Leaders of the Jewish community in Britain expressed outrage after the British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave a peerage to Shami Chakrabarti , lead investigator of a recent anti-Semitism inquiry which was condemned as a “whitewash.”

They called the peerage a ‘'kick in the teeth.'’

Earlier this week, it was announced that human rights lawyer Shami Chakrabarti accepted a position in the House of Lords from Corbyn, just weeks after her report into anti-Semitism within the Labour party was published.

Doubt was already cast on Chakrabarti’s neutrality after she admitted to joining Labour on the day of her appointment.

Jewish groups denounced the appointment, with some questioning whether the move amounted to a reward from Corbyn to Chakrabarti for downplaying anti-Semitism within the party.

The conclusion of the anti-Semitism report was that while there is an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” within the party, it is “not overrun by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of racism.” The investigation made 20 recommendations, but did not approve lifetime bans for party members who engage in anti-Semitic or racist behavior.

Jonathan Sacerdoti, of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said Miss Chakrabarti's inquiry was suspected of being a 'fraud from the moment she promised to conduct it in Labour's interests'.

The Community Security Trust (CST), an anti-Semitism watchdog charity in Britain, described Chakrabarti’s appointment as a “shameless kick in the teeth for all who put hope in her now wholly compromised inquiry.”

Marie van der Zyl, Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, denounced the move as unethical.

“It is beyond disappointing that Shami Chakrabarti has been offered, and accepted, a peerage from Labour following her so-called independent inquiry,” she said. “The report, which was weak in several areas, seems to have been rewarded with an honor.”

“This whitewash for peerages is a scandal that surely raises questions about the integrity of Ms. Chakrabarti, her inquiry and the Labour leadership,” Van der Zyl said.

‘’The inquiry avoided criticising Mr Corbyn for describing Hamas and Hezbollah as friends, and how this affected the debate on the issue in the party.’’

Paul Charney, Chairman of the Zionist Federation UK, said Chakrabarti’s new appointment puts all the “failings of the Labour inquiry in context.”

“We must now accept that the primary aim of the report was to rid Labour of the allegations of antisemitism — but not the antisemitism itself. We hoped that this inquiry would provide a chance to rebuild the relationship between the party and our community. Instead, it has somehow made things even worse,” he said.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that in her acceptance of the peerage, the credibility of Chakrabarti’s report “lies in tatters and the Labour Party’s stated intention, to unequivocally tackle antisemitism, remains woefully unrealized.”