Derbyshire County Council leader condemns antisemitism following a rise in hate crime during the Israeli-Palestinian crisis

Council Leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, of the Conservative-controlled authority, raised his concerns during a Full Council meeting which sparked a discussion among concerned councillors before the council voted by a majority to condemn antisemitism.

Cllr Lewis told the meeting: “I felt it was not only appropriate but the right thing to do. Antisemitism is on the rise and should not and will not be tolerated. As county leaders we have a line to be drawn in the sand and say it will not be accepted.”

He added that he recognised there are complexities surrounding the crisis but that the dispute can absolutely never be used to justify antisemitic behaviour in any way, and that condemning antisemitism is something that should be supported by the council.

Cllr Lewis said: “It should be something that can be supported in an unqualified way by all in this chamber and I am sure all in this chamber share our horror of the October 7 attacks and the conflict it led to.”

The council leader stated in his motion that the authority should also: Condemn and denounce terrorist group Hamas; Call for the people of Gaza to have the right to live in peace,: Share in his disappointment at the BBC for not calling Hamas a terrorist group; And agree that Israel has a right to defend itself, but that all sides should work towards a lasting peace.

He added in his motion to the council: “In the wake of Hamas’s appalling terrorist attacks, Jewish people in Britain have experienced the worst wave of hate incidents in modern times, including the targeting of children and schools.

“This is a shocking indictment of the level of anti-Jewish hatred happening right now in our country and it is even more appalling when it is considered that this wave of antisemitism began as a reaction to a terror attack on Israel that caused the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.”

The motion also included a call to stand by the Government’s commitment to supporting the victims of the Hamas attacks and to call upon all authorities to deploy a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism.

It also stated that Cllr Lewis felt the council should call upon the police to use the full extent of their powers to deal with all individuals and organisations that seek to intimidate, or that threaten or incite violence, or use hateful or antisemitic language, and that the council should stand with Jewish members of Derbyshire’s communities at this incredibly difficult time.

Conservative Cllr Tony King said: “We are called upon to support Derbyshire Jewish groups but I extend that to this country. All of us are aware and deplore the horrors of the Holocaust resulting in millions of Jews put to death in the Second World War.”

Cllr King also reflected on how an enormous number of Jewish people were also forced to flee Poland in the late 19th century including his own grandfather.

He added: “We are living in an era where we have Jews living in fear in London and children living in fear and being personally abused in the street. Is this really England, is this really the UK.”

Both Cllr Lewis and Cllr King also criticised the BBC for not calling Hamas a terrorist organisation while both the United States and the European Union have designated Hamas to be a terrorist group, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Cllr King added: “Is this not highly reminiscent of the lead up to Europe in the 1930s for Jews? For God’s sake, we need to learn the lessons of history.”

Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Cllr Fordham, had called for an amendment to the motion based on some of the wording and details but the council leader accepted that there are matters very much beyond the scope of this council and they were both agreed in the condemnation of antisemitism.

Cllr Fordham’s call for an amendment had included a note of regret for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, that a political solution and not a military one is needed, and that the council joins calls for a ceasefire, but once Cllr Lewis clarified that his position is essentially the condemnation of antisemitism and issues around the BBC, the motion stood and was passed by a three quarters majority vote.

The vote was supported by 75per cent of the councillors in the chamber, with 25per cent abstaining and no objections.

Fellow Liberal Democrat, Cllr Barry Bingham, said he had sadly been helping a ‘Jewish lad’ who has been suffering from hate crime around Staveley and he just hoped and prayed that those involved in the crisis can find a way to live in peace.

Labour Group Leader, Cllr Joan Dixon, joined Cllr Lewis in verbally denouncing Hamas and condemning antisemitism during the meeting and that Israel has a right to defend itself but that International Law also needs to be upheld to avoid civilian deaths and a humanitarian crisis.

However, Cllr Dixon argued that Cllr Lewis’s motion had been ‘badly drafted’ and failed to reject all hate crime including Islamophobia and that she felt the council chamber was not the place to recommend any agreement on the suffering of Israeli and Palestinian civilians therefore she felt it was more appropriate to abstain on the vote.