British Jews Rally Against ‘Anti-Semitic’ Jeremy Corbyn
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Leaders of British Jewry in an open letter to the country’s Labour Party said “again and again” party leader Jeremy Corbyn “has sided with anti-Semites rather than Jews.”
The letter sent on Monday to Member of Parliament John Cryer, chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said: “Today, leaders of British Jewry tell Jeremy Corbyn that enough is enough. We have had enough of hearing that Jeremy Corbyn ‘opposes antisemitism,’ whilst the mainstream majority of British Jews, and their concerns, are ignored by him and those he leads.”
“He is repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly anti-Semitic views, but claims never to hear or read them,” read the letter.
Corbyn has headed the Labour Party since 2015.
The letter also said: “Jeremy Corbyn did not invent this form of politics, but he has had a lifetime within it, and now personifies its problems and dangers. He issues empty statements about opposing antisemitism, but does nothing to understand or address it. We conclude that he cannot seriously contemplate anti-Semitism, because he is so ideologically fixed within a far left worldview that is instinctively hostile to mainstream Jewish communities.”
On Sunday morning, Corbyn sent a message on social condemning anti-Semitism.
Earlier this month, Corbyn was found to have been a member of a private Facebook group for two years until 2015 that featured many anti-Semitic statements. He said he had not read any of those statements.
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