[Anderson:] You are more than welcome. You are watching Connect the World, with me Becky Anderson. Welcome. British lawmakers might be knee-deep in Brexit, in fact, they are knee-deep in Brexit. But Theresa May's Conservative Party is now grappling with another issue. That of Islamophobia. 14 party members have been suspended after anti-Islamic comments were posted on a Facebook page supporting a key pro-Brexit lawmaker. The comments called for Muslims to be, quote, turfed out of public office and urged the U.K. government to get rid of all mosques. Well a spokesperson for the Conservative Party told CNN that the Facebook page is not affiliated to the official party. Well meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party in the U.K. is in the middle of a full-blown crisis over anti-Semitism. Later on Wednesday the U.K.- based Jewish Labour Movement will hold votes on whether to break with the party after nearly 100 years of affiliation. My colleague, Hala Gorani, set out to investigate the extent of abuse Jewish lawmakers face and what is being done about it.
[Hala Gorani, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] The British Labour Party is engulfed in an anti-Semitism crisis that refuses to go away. The MP Margaret Hodge is among those accusing the party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, of willfully turning a blind eye to racism against Jews by party members.
[Margaret Hodge, British Labour Mp:] It is worrying, that what has always been present at the extremes of the party, on the fringes of the party, which is anti-Semitism, it has now moved into the mainstream.
[Gorani:] Spend a few minutes looking at replies on Hodge's Twitter feed, and you get a sense of the problem.
[Unidentified Male, Reading Twitter Responses:] You filthy Zionist. You don't deserve to have a voice in society, the time will come when you are shut up permanently. An exceptionally rich yid, she's the very worst kind of scum.
[Gorani:] Look closely, and you find many of the accounts associated with these tweets claim they are supporters of Corbyn.
[Hodge:] I think the leadership of the party has given permission for those used to express, and again, as I said, they were always there.
[Gorani:] Do you believe Jeremy Corbyn is anti-Semitic?
[Hodge:] I confronted and talked to him in the summer myself, and I did feel that his refusal to understand the nature of anti-Semitism meant that he himself was guilty and if that is the case, you're a racist.
[Gorani:] Corbyn ally, Barry Gardiner, denies Corbyn is racist but accepts the party should have acted earlier to root out anti-Semites.
[Barry Gardiner, British Shadow Secretary Of State For Trade:] They're causing huge damage in our party and they are causing huge distress to the Jewish community. And for that, we as a party have apologized and we are determined to get on top of this problem and to get those people out of the party.
[Gorani:] You don't accept the charge that it's Jeremy Corbyn's leadership that is allowing voices who may have been there the whole time to come up to the surface? You don't accept that charge on any level?
[Gardiner:] No, look, can I be clear, the way in which we deal in any form of racism, but in particular the way in which with anti-Semitism in the party is not a matter for the leader of the party. In fact, is not the matter for the leader of any of the political parties in the U.K. It's a matter for the party administration. So it's the general secretary who does this. And the general secretary, since she came in last year, has actually put in place a number of new processes, and also doubled the resource the human resource going into the investigation of those complaints, to make sure that it is done in a much faster fashion.
[Gorani:] But some within the party remain unconvinced. Including nine MP's who quit the Labour Party two weeks ago, all of them citing anti-Semitism among other reasons. Other party members have also quit, including Adam Langleben of the Jewish Labour Movement. His group is voting Wednesday on whether to break ties completely with the party after nearly 100 years of affiliation.
[Adam Langleben, Executive Committee Member, Jewish Labour Movement:] I think this may well end up destroying the Labour Party. And because if the Labor Party can't stand true to its value of anti-racism, what is the point of the Labour Party existing?
[Gorani:] The effect extending beyond politics as well, many people we spoke to in the Jewish communities of North London saying trust in the party has gone and some saying they'd leave the country if Corbyn came to power.
[Unidentified Male:] I think maybe many the Jewish people would probably emigrate to Israel or other countries. We feel we are not wanted year. What we have now is an extremist party which is anti- Semitic, like all extremists are.
[Gorani:] Fear runs deep on some of these streets. As the anti-Semitism controversy reaches far beyond the walls of Westminster. Hala Gorani, CNN, London.
[Anderson:] Well, from London, and where the lawmakers are of course in Westminster, to the U.S. Congress, issues of Islamophobia and anti- Semitism dividing U.S. politics as well as that of Britain. The House of Representatives will vote this week on an anti-Semitism resolution that will now also include language in condemning Islamophobia, and the initial resolution against anti-Semitism was seen as a rebuke by the party of newly-elected Democrat Ilhan Omar, who said a pro-Israel group was pushing allegiance to a foreign country. But Omar one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, has long been the subject of anti-Muslin rhetoric like this a poster linking her with the September 11 attacks. The change came as the party faced pressure to condemn the comments and protect her from Islamophobic abuse. Live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Coming up, R. Kelly says he is innocent and he says he is fighting for his life. In his first televised interview since being charged with sexual abuse, a live report on that, coming up.