COSYING UP TO EXTREMISTS
Corbyn is speaker at hardline Islamic meeting — just 24 hours before he snubs invitation to honour the birth of Israel
JEREMY Corbyn was accused of cosying up to extremists last night after attending an event held by a hardline Muslim group accused of anti-Semitism.
The Labour leader spoke at a Commons meeting staged by an organisation that attacks Israeli ‘Zionists’ on social media.
He addressed the Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) event on Wednesday – but last night snubbed a formal dinner with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mend was this week accused of being ‘Islamists masquerading as civil libertarians’ whose senior figures have publicly expressed anti-Semitic views. A report by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank said the organisation was an ‘extremist- linked group’ that has hosted ‘illiberal, intolerant and extremist Islamist speakers’.
Mend, which has been accused by the Muslim Council of Britain of organising boycotts of Holocaust Memorial Day, arranged the Commons event to mark the start of Islamophobia Awareness Month. Mr Corbyn told the audience: ‘Our future lies in mutual respect between all communities.’
Referring to the terror attack outside Finsbury Park Mosque in his Islington constituency in the summer, the Labour leader added: ‘An attack on any one of us is an attack on all of us.’
But his appearance fuelled criticism after he refused to attend a gala last night to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, which helped pave the way for the creation of Israel.
Former communities secretary Sir Eric Pickles called his snub ‘a slap in the face of Israel, and of all British Jewish citizens of the United Kingdom’.
He said: ‘To not make a din- ner is perhaps excusable but to attend a meeting of extremists who are vowed to destroy Israel is contemptible.’
Tory MP Philip Davies added: ‘During the election Jeremy Corbyn said his links to violent extremism, such as to the IRA and to Hamas, was a thing of the past. We can now see that this is not historical at all. His addiction to hardline extremists continues to this day.’
Tom Wilson, of the Henry Jackson Society, said: Public figures and elected officials agreeing to speak at Mend’s events should be aware that this is an organisation which has hosted preachers known for their extremist and intolerant views. That is who they are aligning themselves with.’
Jennifer Gerber, of Labour Friends of Israel, said it was ‘utterly unacceptable’ for the Labour politician to attend an event organised by a group that has repeatedly peddled myths about the ‘Israeli lobby’.
Four MPs – Tories Crispin Blunt and Anna Soubry, Lib Dem Sir Ed Davey and the SNP’s Joanna Cherry – were all due to attend Mend’s event but pulled out. They claimed there was ‘controversy’ over the group’s record. At least six Labour MPs – including Wes Streeting, Stephen Kinnock and Naz Shah – turned up.
Labour has been dogged by allegations of anti-Semitism within the party. Ken Livingstone was suspended for say- ing Hitler was an early supporter of Zionism, while anti-Semitic remarks were made at a fringe event at Labour’s party conference last month. Mr Corbyn, a supporter of the Palestinian cause, has faced repeated questions about his association with IRA figures.
Mend said the think-tank report ‘equates political dissent with extremism’. A statement said it ‘operates in the mainstream of British society’ and that many of the claims in the report are ‘based on innuendo and false assertions’.
The group also said it ‘unequivocally rejects’ allegations of anti-semitism, homophobia, or extremism.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the Labour leader was ‘pleased to attend an event to mark the start of Islamophobia Awareness Month’.
‘His addiction to hardliners’