NGO slams Corbyn for dismissing voices of protest over antisemitism
‘She’s a very good actress,’ Labour leader says about Maureen Lipman
The NGO Campaign Against Antisemitism accused British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn of dismissing an impassioned speech made by actress Maureen Lipman, who at a protest on Sunday branded Corbyn an “antisemite at the head of the Labour Party.”
Lipman made her comments at a demonstration held outside the Labour Party head office in London two weeks after the landmark “Enough is Enough” protest against antisemitism in the party.
Hundreds of Britons joined Sunday’s demonstration organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, demanding that Labour hold Corbyn to account.
Lipman attacked Corbyn and his behavior, fiercely criticizing his decisions to associate with known antisemites and turn a blind eye to their Jew-hatred.
Questioned about her remarks in an interview with LBC talk radio on Monday, Corbyn responded that Lipman was “a very good actress and a great comic and I’ve always enjoyed her. I hope she reflects on what she said because if she really wants a Tory Britain, then she will have to accept all the policy that goes with it.”
Questioned further over the issue of antisemitism, he added that Lipman “should understand – and I’m sure she does – that this [Labour] party does not accept antisemitism in any form.” He added that Lipman was welcome to discuss the issue with him or the party’s secretary-general.
Reacting to the interview, Gideon Falter, chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s response to 2,000 people coming to his headquarters in the driving rain on a Sunday shows just how serious he is about tackling antisemitism in the party. He has brushed the criticism off, repeated his dire platitudes about opposing antisemitism, and offered a meeting to Maureen Lipman.”
Falter continued: “If he was serious about engaging with British Jews, he would have come to the demonstration... to speak there, but instead he declined. It is clear that we can expect nothing of substance from Mr. Corbyn, and the decent people left in the Labour Party must insist that our complaint against him is now properly investigated and that he is held to account. We said we would return to [the] Labour Party head office on May 13 if there was insufficient progress by then. Mr. Corbyn’s statement makes that increasingly likely.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism denounced Corbyn to the Labour Party in a comprehensive disciplinary complaint submitted two weeks ago but has said that without any detailed investigation, the new secretary-general of the party, Jennie Formby, issued an initial rejection of the complaint.
The complaint accuses Corbyn of bringing his party into disrepute for dismissing antisemitism and flags his membership in several social media groups used as platforms for antisemitic posts. The campaign said hundreds of people had signed forms backing its disciplinary complaint.