UK Labour leader Corbyn attends event by anti-Israel group
In yet another anti-Israel debacle, Jeremy Corbyn was seen attending a Passover event by an anti-Israel Jewish group; Labour, facing a barrage of anti-Semitism allegation, is again bombarded with criticism.
Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attended a Passover party Monday organized by an extreme left-wing group that had in the past called for the destruction of the State of Israel, according to reports by several British media outlets.
According to reports, Corbyn was present at an event staged by Jewdas, which called accusations of rampant anti-Semitism in the Labour Party "cynical manipulation," and "faux-outrage."
British media outlets such as The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Daily Mirror printed an image of Corbyn at the event, originally published by political blogger Paul Staines in one of Britain's leading political blog sites, Guido Fawkes.
Recordings of conversations from the event reportedly feature participants speaking out against well-known Jewish figures in Britain.
To be fair, Israel is itself a steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of. https://t.co/jPRne1dL18
— jewdⒶs // יידהודה (@geoffreyjewdas) December 28, 2017
Labour MP Wes Streeting told Guido Fawkes, "What on earth was he thinking? This demonstrates either extraordinarily bad judgment or a deliberate affront to the majority of British Jews. Probably both.
"It calls into serious question the sincerity of every public statement Jeremy Corbyn has made on anti-Semitism during the past week, just as many of us hoped we had begun to make progress."
Last week, British Jewish groups held a street protest outside parliament against Corbyn, accusing him of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in party ranks because of a far-left world view hostile to Jews.
The issue had flared up again after it came to light that in 2012 Corbyn questioned a decision by London local authorities to remove a street mural depicting men in suits with big noses playing Monopoly on the backs of naked people.
I asked the Leader’s Office for an explanation about this Facebook post first thing this morning. I’m still waiting for a response. pic.twitter.com/DL8ynBtES4
— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) March 23, 2018
That same day, Corbyn responded with an open letter in which he recognized that anti-Semitism had surfaced within his party, apologized for the pain this had caused, and pledged to redouble his efforts to stamp it out, vowing to have "zero tolerance" for anti-Semitism.
"The idea of Jewish bankers and capitalists exploiting the workers of the world is an old anti-Semitic conspiracy theory," Corbyn wrote in his open letter. "I am sorry for not having studied the content of the mural more closely before wrongly questioning its removal in 2012."
In an open letter of their own, the Jewish groups denounced what they described as the far left's "obsessive hatred of Zionism, Zionists and Israel" and gave examples of how that often translated into overtly anti-Semitic language. They said Corbyn's "empty statements" condemning anti-Semitism had got nowhere near dealing with the problem.
In his response, Corbyn, a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights and critic of Israel for several decades, acknowledged that anti-Semitism had sometimes been woven into criticism of Israel.
"Comparing Israel or the actions of Israeli governments to the Nazis, attributing criticisms of Israel to Jewish characteristics or to Jewish people in general and using abusive phraseology about supporters of Israel such as 'Zio' all constitute aspects of contemporary anti-Semitism," he wrote.
