A Jewish woman was attacked outside a pro-Jeremy Corbyn event in north London on Tuesday night, where she demonstrated against the Labour Party’s handling of its anti-Semitism problem, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The victim, identified as pro-Israel activist Sharon Klaff, sustained minor injuries to the head, when she was kicked in the face by two female attackers.
“70-year-old Jewish lady had her phone stolen and beaten by two girls, I was threatened and told I would be ‘dealt with’,” Cliff Dixon, an eyewitness, wrote on Twitter. “When myself and some others tried to stop the second girl attacking her, we were shoved away by security including a particularly vile man in a grey sweatshirt who accused me of being far right and said he would ‘deal with me’ later as he knows who I am,” he added.
Klaff took part in a protest outside a “Corbyn Antisemitism and Justice for Palestine” gathering in Islington, one part in a series of events organized by Corbyn supporters to defend the Labour leader against charges of anti-Semitism. The event featured speakers from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and Jewish Voice for Labour.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan police confirmed that officers were called to the scene and are looking into the matter. “Enquiries continue and officers from the Central North Command Unit are investigating,” they said in a statement.
The event’s organizers charged the meeting was called to discuss “criticism of Israel being conflated with antisemitism in ways that threaten free speech and the right to protest while silencing Palestinian voices.”
“We must vigorously oppose all forms of antisemitism but we cannot allow smears to be used to silence criticism of the Israeli state and undermine solidarity with the Palestinians,” said the Facebook page promoting the event.
Jewish community leaders and officials from across the political spectrum have accused Corbyn, who called Hamas and Hezbollah his “friends,” of not doing enough to tackle the increase of anti-Semitic rhetoric in the Labour Party.
[Photo: euronews (in English) / YouTube ]