Paper brands Corbyn as anti-Semite

LONDON: The long-festering issue of anti-Semitism in Labour Party ranks is coming back to haunt Jeremy Corbyn in the first days of his election campaign to unseat Prime Minister Boris Johnson and take up residence at 10 Downing Street.

Mr Corbyn’s bid for Britain’s top job was sidetracked on Thursday by renewed claims that he is not fit to be prime minister because of his perceived tolerance of anti-Semitic attitudes, an allegation Mr Corbyn strongly denied. The criticism came from a former member of the Labour Party’s inner circle who took the extraordinary step of urging British voters to choose Johnson, and from an influential Jewish newspaper that urged Britons to shun Mr Corbyn in the country’s Dec 12 election.

Ian Austin, a close aide to Gordon Brown, the Labour Party’s last prime minister, said the party has been poisoned by “anti-Jewish racism” under Mr Corbyn. Mr Austin was one of seven lawmakers who left the Labour Party in February because of allegations of anti-Semitism and its failure to take a clear stand on Brexit.

On Thursday, he urged “decent, traditional, patriotic Labour voters” to vote for Mr Johnson and the Conservatives rather than let Mr Corbyn take power. He said the “scandal of antiSemitism” has poisoned Labour since Mr Corbyn was elected party leader in 2015. Those concerns were echoed by the Jewish Chronicle newspaper, which said its polling indicated that nearly half of Britain’s Jews would “seriously consider’’ leaving the country if Mr Corbyn becomes prime minister.

Over his long career, the 70-yearold Corbyn has stoked controversy by championing the grievances of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and been accused of failing to expel party members who express anti-Semitic views. Mr Corbyn denied the allegations, saying that “anti-Semitism is a poison and an evil in our society’’ and that he is working to root it out of the Labour Party.