Corbyn dined with author who denied anti-Semitism crisis

Jeremy Corbyn sat with a Left-wing author who dismissed Labour’s anti-Semitism problem as a ‘largely engineered furore’, at a controversial Passover meal.

The Labour leader defended attending the event run by radical group Jewdas earlier this week, claiming it was an opportunity to ‘celebrate with young Jewish people from my own community’.

But yesterday it emerged that mr Corbyn sat next to David rosenberg, who has been at the centre of efforts to deny there is an issue with anti-Semitism within Labour.

On Facebook this week, mr rosenberg, 60, branded the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council ‘Tory poodles’.

He accused them of ‘cynically playing games’ and said last week’s demonstration outside Parliament was part of ‘ratcheting up their war against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party to do damage in the run-up to the [local] elections.’

In a message posted last Thursday, he said mr Corbyn’s critics had ‘opportunistically gone on a “Get Corbyn” hunt this week.’

The comment was ‘liked’ by exmomentum vice chairman Jackie Walker, who was suspended from Labour after she said Holocaust memorial Day was too focused on Jews.

At Labour’s conference last year, mr rosenberg shared a platform with author miko Peled who, at another conference event, compared Zionists to the Nazis.

In 2016, mr rosenberg wrote to the London evening Standard saying Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush’s ‘claim to speak for the Jewish community is specious’. A month later, he signed a letter to The Guardian claiming anti- Semitism accusations were being made to undermine mr Corbyn’s leadership.

This year mr Corbyn attended mr rosenberg’s 60th birthday party.