Four in 10 say Corbyn is an anti-Semite

NEARLY four in ten people think Jeremy Corbyn is anti-Semitic following a summer of crisis for the party, a poll suggests.

Some 38 per cent think the Labour leader is prejudiced towards the Jewish community, while just a quarter believe he is a ‘committed campaigner against racism’.

The survey suggests the public is unconvinced by Mr Corbyn’s claims that he is addressing Labour’s antiSemitism issue, according to the head of the research centre behind it.

It also found that one in three people thought he was only interested in talking to organisations ‘ deemed terrorists’ by Britain, the EU and the US.

Tory MP Michael Fabricant tweeted: ‘38 per cent of Brits believe Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite. What an indictment. (I suspect if his own backbenchers were polled, it would be higher).’

The survey, commissioned by the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), comes after months of accusations of anti-Semitism.

Labour faced controversy after it refused to adopt in full an internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism.

Following a backlash and an outcry from many of its MPs, Mr Corbyn later adopted the definition together with its examples. But he was then caught up in controversy over a 2014 wreath- laying ceremony at a Tunisian cemetery where terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre are buried.

The poll was carried out by Populus which asked 2,035 people to choose between contrast- ing statements on Mr Corbyn. It found that 38 per cent agreed with the statement: ‘Whatever Jeremy Corbyn claims, his actions and past history point to him being anti-Semitic.’

Labour disputed the worth of the findings, saying the poll did not ask similar questions about other political leaders. Party sources said the survey ‘calls into question the independence of this poll and BICOM’s intentions in commissioning it’.

BICOM chief executive James Sorene said he was ‘slightly sur- prised’ at the lack of support for Mr Corbyn.

Some 19 per cent felt Mr Corbyn has ‘worked hard to deliver peace between Israel and the Palestinians’. However, 35 per cent agreed that he ‘only seems interested in talking to those organisations which have been deemed terrorists by the British Government, the EU and the US State Department’.

Mr Sorene told the Jewish Chronicle: ‘If you have a poll where you ask something about Jeremy Corbyn, there’s a base of his support, which you would expect, potentially, to go up into the 30s. I was surprised how low the support for him was. The fact that he could only muster 25 per cent and 19 per cent shows that even his own loyalists and his own base don’t quite believe his explanations.’

Jennifer Gerber, of Labour Friends of Israel, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s abysmal record on tackling anti-Semitism and his long association with terror groups intent on Israel’s destruction is clearly catching up with him.’

CORBYN’S ‘RIVERS OF BLOOD MOMENT’ The Mail, August 29