Jeremy Corbyn Accused Of Being ‘Unquestionably Anti-Semitic’ By Major Jewish Leader

Image by Getty Images

By JTA May 31, 2018

(JTA) — British Labour Party head Jeremy Corbyn holds “anti-Semitic views” which could drive Jewish Britons out of the country if he becomes prime minister, a senior Jewish leader said.

Jonathan Arkush, the outgoing president of the Board of Deputies of British Jewry, told the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph that British Jews are for the first time asking “do we have a future here?”, which he blamed on the Labour leader’s failure to rid his party of anti-Semitism.

Arkush, who was one of two Jewish leaders to meet in April with Corbyn to discuss anti-Semitism in the party, said in the interview that Corbyn’s views on Israel are born out of anti-Semitism.

“Delegitimizing the state of Israel is anti-Semitic,” Arkush told the Telegraph. He “was a chairman of Stop the War, which is responsible for some of the worst anti-Israel discourse.”

The group protests what it calls unjust conflicts and often protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

“If he shares the prevalent discourse about Israel, then that view is unquestionably anti-Semitic,” Arkush asserted.

Arkush said Corbyn would need to tell Jews that he “will not accept a discourse which denies the existence of their own land to the Jewish people … I think we are all entitled to some clarity on his real views about Israel.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO