Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn must apologize for repeating a “classic racist trope,” Jewish leaders have said, and condemned his meetings with “antisemites, terrorist-sympathizers and other extremists,” The Jewish Chronicle reported on Wednesday.
In separate letters to Labour’s general secretary, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), and the Community Security Trust (CST) said Corbyn had failed to take meaningful action against anti-Semitism and, instead of challenging extremists views, had shown “solidarity” with them.
“To move forward, Mr Corbyn must acknowledge his own failings and offer a heartfelt apology to British Jews and to the Israeli victims of the terrorists with whom he has shown solidarity,” The BDBJ’s chief executive, Gillian Merron, said.
“Peace-makers speak to different parties to conflict and seek to show empathy with both and find common ground,” she added. “Through these actions, he has not advanced the cause of peace and, potentially, even set it back. We would urge that any future activism on this issue by Mr Corbyn should engage with mainstream Israeli and Palestinian leaders, with a view to advancing peace based on the concerns of both communities.”
In a separate joint response, the JLC and CST said Corbyn should make “public acknowledgement of, and apology for” his extremist associations, adding the atmosphere in the party is “too febrile and too lacking in trust for us to consult in any way that risks being construed as somehow lacking in transparency.”
The groups further charged that Jews are being discriminated against. “[The] obsessive hatred of Israel and Zionism means that no Jew can be an equal member of the Labour party, because even if they pass an initial loyalty/morality test, they still always remain under suspicion, lest they display ‘Zionist’ or ‘pro-Israel’ tendencies,” the letter read.
Their comments come at a time when an internal Labour working group finalizes its proposals for a new anti-Semitism code to be voted on by the ruling National Executive Committee next week. According to reports, the party is expected to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) of anti-Semitism but are set to include additions aimed at allowing a set of specific criticisms of Israel.
In their letter to Labour’s general secretary, Jewish leaders listed a number of recommendations for the party, including not watering down the IHRA examples.
“Our mission to promote and defend the interests of the UK’s Jews means that we cannot remain silent in the face of antisemitism. We hope that, over the coming weeks and months, Labour will do the necessary to turn the tide and end this conflict,” the groups concluded.
In a similar show of communal consensus, all three major UK Jewish papers published a joint editorial last month condemning the Labour leader’s anti-Semitism.
[Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism / YouTube ]