CORBYN’S ‘RIVERS OF BLOOD MOMENT’
Ex-Chief Rabbi accuses Labour leader of ‘suggesting Jews aren’t fully British’
THE former Chief Rabbi last night denounced Jeremy Corbyn as an ‘anti-Semite’ and the ‘most offensive’ British politician since Enoch Powell.
Citing Powell’s infamous 1968 ‘rivers of Blood’ speech, Jonathan sacks condemned the Labour leader’s remarks about British ‘Zionists’ as ‘divisive and hateful’.
In a major escalation of the row engulfing mr Corbyn, Lord sacks accused him of supporting ‘racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map’. The crossbench peer was responding to footage of mr Corbyn attacking British ‘Zionists’, saying they ‘don’t want to study history’ and ‘don’t understand english irony either’.
Lord sacks, who served as Chief rabbi for 22 years, accused mr Corbyn of depicting a group of British citizens as ‘essentially alien’ and suggesting that Jews were ‘not fully British’, even if
they had spent their entire lives in this country.
He told the New Statesman: ‘ The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell’s 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech. It was divisive, hateful and like Powell’s speech, it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.’
Powell’s notorious speech on immigration ended his career in Edward Heath’s shadow cabinet.
Lord Sacks, 70, who is one of the most prominent Jewish figures in the country, added: ‘ We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions. He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.
‘When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre- war European anti-
The most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell’s 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech Lord Sacks yesterday
Semitism. When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.
‘This is low, dishonest and dangerous. He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.’
He added: ‘Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majesty’s Opposition.’
The former Chief Rabbi’s intervention came after footage emerged of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian. Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to the historical land of Israel.
In the 2013 recording, Mr Corbyn said: ‘They clearly have two problems. One is they don’t want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all of their lives, they don’t understand English irony either.’
The furore over the remarks has reignited the anti-Semitism row engulfing Mr Corbyn and was condemned by Labour MPs, including Luciana Berger, who said they made her ‘feel unwelcome in my own party’.
A Labour spokesman said last night: ‘This comparison with the race- baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.
‘Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense, not as a synonym or code for Jewish people. Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.’
In his speech, Powell said increased immigration would mean that ‘in 15 or 20 years’ the black man will have the whip hand over the white man’.
Last night, it also emerged that Mr Corbyn claimed in 2010 that Israeli officials had written speeches by MPs in the Commons. In a speech about the shooting of Turkish activists at sea by Israeli commandos, the then backbench MP said: ‘[British MPs] all turned up [to the debating chamber] with a pre-prepared script. I’m sure our friend Ron Prosor (the Israeli ambassador) wrote it.’
Euan Philipps, of Labour Against Antisemitism, said: ‘The strength of former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s comments show how concerned the Jewish community is at the prospect of a Jeremy Corbyn government.’
Gideon Falter, of the Campaign Against Anti- Semitism, said: ‘Lord Sacks has voiced the fears that are heard around Shabbat dinner tables on a weekly basis. By word and deed, Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite leading an institutionally anti-Semitic party.’
HOW shaming that in Britain, the country which invented the concept of the cradle-to-grave welfare state, the elderly are forced to pay more for care than other major developed countries.
While they have reformed social provision to account for their growing elderly populations, our politicians have been paralysed by indecision – with all parties constantly kicking the problem into the long grass.
As a result, England’s care system is broken, and fixing it is arguably the most urgent challenge facing our society today. The time for procrastination is over.
IN his blistering denunciation of Labour anti-Semitism, former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks describes comments made by Jeremy Corbyn about ‘Zionists’ as the most offensive since Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968. And the real tragedy is that Mr Corbyn doesn’t understand why the Jewish community is so outraged. He truly believes that neither he nor his party have done anything wrong.
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