Rubbing shoulders, Corbyn and Holocaust storm activist
LABOUR’S anti- Semitism row deepened last night as Jeremy Corbyn was pictured with an activist who says people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust took place.
And Miko Peled stoked the flames further last night by telling delegates at a conference fringe event that Mr Corbyn would agree with ‘everything’ he said about anti-Semitism if there were no cameras present.
It came as dozens of delegates, including union boss Len McCluskey, waved Palestine flags on the conference floor in extraordinary scenes during a debate on the Middle East yesterday. One activist suggested during the debate that Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis was being ‘orchestrated’ by Israel.
As a Holocaust survivor told delegates that Mr Corbyn should use tomorrow’s closing speech to show leadership in tackling anti-Semitism, the Labour leader was widely criticised after being pictured this week with Mr Peled, whose views sparked fury at last year’s conference.
Deputy leader Tom Watson had promised an investigation into how Mr Peled was allowed on the Labour fringe at the 2017 event, but despite this, the activist was allowed to speak again last night. Mr Peled tweeted the photo and said: ‘ Great to see the courageous Jeremy Corbyn accessible, gracious and generous on the street with the people.’
Later he tweeted: ‘ Israel does not commit crimes. It IS a crime!’ Mr Peled also tweeted a picture of himself with Mr Corbyn’s close ally, MP Chris Williamson, who replied: ‘It was a genuine privilege to meet you, Miko.’
Jewish groups said the fact Mr Corbyn was ‘schmoozing’ Mr Peled showed how far ‘ racial hatred’ had taken over the party.
Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Anti-Semitism, added: ‘Miko Peled’s appearance at last year’s Labour conference in Brighton, where he reportedly gave a speech including the line “the Holocaust: yes or no”, was a shameful episode that led to the promise of an investigation by deputy leader Tom Watson and was widely condemned as an act of Holocaust denial.
‘To discover that not only was he invited back to this year’s conference, but was photographed with the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is shocking. Anti-Semitism is now normalised within the Labour Party.’
Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack called on Mr Corbyn to say ‘ unfounded’ attacks against Israel are ‘not acceptable’.
The former prisoner at both the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen death camps also criticised Mr Corbyn’s defence of an antiSemitic mural.
Ahead of Mr Corbyn’s keynote address, she said he ‘has to prove his right to be a leader of a party which has got a very good past’.
At the fringe event last night, Mr Peled said that anyone who wanted a Jewish state should ‘build one on the Moon’, and he criticised the Labour Party for adopting the full definition of anti-Semitism as set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The criticism of Mr Corbyn came as he dismissed the threat to Jewish MPs at the conference after one was forced to use a police escort. He said: ‘There is no threat within this conference.
‘We are a party that is open and inclusive and oppose antiSemitism as a totally united party. I’ve opposed anti-Semitism and racism all my life and will continue to do so.’
But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said ‘sickening individuals’ who spouted antiSemitism should be kicked out of Labour. Mr Corbyn pointedly did not join a standing ovation after she called for anti-Semites to be thrown out of the party.
A Labour spokesman last night said Mr Corbyn’s encounter with Mr Peled was brief and there was no discussion.