Corbyn: We do have an anti-Semitism problem

Jewish leaders to hold protest against ‘hostile’ Labour leader

JEREMY Corbyn last night admitted that Labour has a problem with anti-Semitism – but refused to apologise for his own behaviour.

Jewish community leaders will today take the unprecedented step of holding a protest against the Labour leader outside Parliament.

In a letter to be presented to Labour MPs, the Board of Deputies of British Jews will accuse him of repeatedly ignoring their concerns, which they said suggested he sees Jews as a ‘hostile enemy’.

Mr Corbyn last night issued a statement in which he said he was ‘sincerely sorry’ for the pain caused by ‘ pockets of antiSemitism that exist in and around the party’. But he did not make any reference to criticism aimed at him personally.

Mr Corbyn has faced a backlash since it emerged last week that he defended an artist who painted an anti- Semitic mural depicting a group of ‘ hooknosed’ men around a Monopoly board on a wall in East London.

When the artist complained on Facebook in 2012 that it was being painted over, the Labour leader replied: ‘Why?’, before going on to condemn previous destruction of controversial political art.

Mr Corbyn has refused to apologise for his comment, saying he only regretted not ‘looking more closely’ at the mural, which he conceded was ‘deeply disturbing and anti-Semitic’.

Last night Labour former Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper told Channel 4 News: ‘I think that it would be right for Jeremy to give a full apology for the comments that he made.’

Mr Corbyn has been asked to address a meeting of Labour MPs today to explain his behaviour but has rejected their invitation.

The Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies of British Jews will lead a protest in Parliament Square this evening over ‘Mr Corbyn’s systematic failure to understand and deal with antiSemitism’, before delivering a letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party warning ‘enough is enough’. The letter – signed by Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies, which comprises 300 representatives from the country’s synagogues, and Jonathan Goldstein, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council – condemns Mr Corbyn for repeatedly siding with anti-Semites rather than Jewish people. They write: ‘Today, leaders of British Jewry tell Jeremy Corbyn that enough is enough.

‘We have had enough of hearing that Jeremy Corbyn “opposes anti-Semitism”, whilst the mainstream majority of British Jews, and their concerns, are ignored by him and those he leads.’

They add: ‘Again and again, Jeremy Corbyn has sided with anti-Semites rather than Jews… At worst, it suggests a conspiratorial world view in which mainstream Jewish communities are believed to be a hostile entity, a class enemy.’

The Campaign Against AntiSemitism yesterday filed a disciplinary complaint to Labour accusing Mr Corbyn of bringing the party into disrepute by failing to tackle anti-Semitism. Gideon Falter, its chairman, said: ‘Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has been seized by racists.’

Last night, as he sought to contain the row, Mr Corbyn pledged to meet representatives from the Jewish community ‘over the coming days, weeks and months’.

In a statement, he said: ‘Labour is an anti-racist party and I utterly condemn anti-Semitism, which is why as leader of the Labour Party I want to be clear that I will not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism that exists in and around our movement. We must stamp this out from our party and movement.

‘We recognise that anti-Semitism has occurred in pockets within the Labour Party, causing pain and hurt to our Jewish community in the Labour Party and the rest of the country. I am sincerely sorry for the pain which has been caused... we must demonstrate our total commitment to excising pockets of anti- Semitism that exist in and around our party.’