Labour MP apologizes over Israel remark
LONDON • An ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has suggested a group of seven MPs who have just quit the party might be secretly funded by Israel. Ruth George, the Labour MP for High Peak, was Tuesday forced to issue an apology after she claimed it was “possible” the Jewish state was a financial backer of the breakaway Independent Group of MPs.
Jewish leaders condemned George’s comments, warning that British Jews would be “rightly concerned when elected representatives start indulging in conspiracy theories and tropes.”
On Monday, seven MPs quit the Labour party over bullying, anti-Semitism and Brexit in the worst Labour split for nearly 40 years.
In remarks that threatened to plunge the party deeper into crisis, George suggested the Independent Group of MPs could be financed by Israel. Asked on Facebook if she agreed with the stance of a Labour councillor who had liked a post describing the MPs as “Israelis,” she said: “The comment appears not to refer to the independent MPs but to their financial backers. Support from the State of Israel, which supports both Conservative and Labour ‘Friends of Israel,’ of which Luciana (Berger) was chair, is possible and I would not condemn those who suggest it, especially when the group’s financial backers are not being revealed.”
George later “wholeheartedly” apologized, insisting she had not intended to invoke an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. “I am deeply sorry that my ill-thought-out and poorly worded comment did this. I withdraw it completely,” she said.
It came as Labour’s official Jewish affiliate, the Jewish Labour Movement, called a meeting to discuss whether to sever its 99-year-long relationship with Labour.
SORRY THAT MY ... POORLY WORDED COMMENT DID THIS.
In a letter sent to its 2,500 members, the organization said the decision of Luciana Berger MP, its chairman, to quit the party had come amid an “entrenching of a culture of anti–Semitism, obfuscation and denial”.
Warning that further resignations could follow without urgent changes, Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, called for a shadow cabinet reshuffle to help bring the party back into its “mainstream tradition.” He was joined by John McDonnell, who promised to undertake a “mammoth listening exercise” in order to heal the growing rift.
But hours later, the Labour leader appeared to hit back at suggestions that MPs concerns had been ignored: “Anyone who thinks they are not being consulted are not taking up, in my view, the opportunities that are available there and open and ready for them at all times to do that.”