UK Labour leader Corbyn would stop arms sales to Israel

UK opposition leader promises closer supervision of British arms exports if elected later this month; Labour's election manifesto pledges immediate halt of arms sales to Israel

Reuters, Ynet|
Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday that if he wins this month's general election, he would increase oversight of arms exports to ensure British-produced arms would not be used in conflicts abroad, naming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among others.
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  • "Labour's new internationalism means we will create a peace and conflict-prevention fund and invest an extra 400 million pounds ($513 million) to expand our diplomatic capacity and increase oversight of arms exports to ensure we're not fueling conflicts, as in Yemen and in Israel and the Palestinian territories," Corbyn said in a speech a speech setting out Labour's foreign policy objectives.
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    UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
    UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
    UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
    (Photo: AFP)
    The British politician's statement joins a pledge made on his Labour Party's election manifesto released earlier this month saying that if elected, Labour will “immediately suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen and to Israel for arms used in violation of the human rights of Palestinian civilians.”
    Corbyn, a self-styled peace campaigner, has been accused by numerous lawmakers for failing to tackle anti-Semitism in the party, an allegation that has dogged the pro-Palestinian politician since he became leader in 2015.
    The Labour leader, whose anti-Israel stance is no secret, last year denied visiting the graves of the terrorists behind the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Massacre.
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    מנהיג מפלגת הלייבור הבריטית ג'רמי קורבין מבקר במחנה פליטים לסורים בירדן
    מנהיג מפלגת הלייבור הבריטית ג'רמי קורבין מבקר במחנה פליטים לסורים בירדן
    Corbyn during his 2018 visit at a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan
    (Photo: AP)
    But images published by the Daily Mail days later showed him at a 2014 memorial service in Tunisia for members of the Black September terror organization that carried out the murders.
    In photos taken a year before Corbyn was elected as the leader of the Labour Party, he is seen holding a wreath over the grave of Atef Bseiso, the head of intelligence for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who helped plan the attack at the Munich Olympics.
    Corbyn also reportedly visited Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2002 in midst of the Second Intifada – a prolonged Palestinian terror campaign leading to the death of hundreds of Israeli citizens.
    During the campaign, Arafat had authorized dozens of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
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