Mural defended by leader WAS anti-Jewish
A MURAL which Jeremy Corbyn defended was ‘indefensibly’ anti-Jewish, according to the lawyer brought in to tackle Labour’s anti-Semitism problem.
The Labour leader criticised a decision to remove the painting in 2012. It depicts a group of ‘hook-nosed’ men sitting around a Monopoly board from wall in East London.
When the artist Mear One complained on Facebook that it was being painted over, Mr Corbyn replied: ‘Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller destroyed Diego Viera’s mural because it includes a picture of Lenin’.
But Lord Falconer – who Labour wants to run its disciplinary procedures – said it was ‘utterly unacceptable’ to defend it. When the case of the mural resurfaced last year, Jewish groups condemned the image, saying it contained ‘vile anti-Semitic tropes’. Mr Corbyn claimed at the time that he had not looked at it properly, and was only commenting on freedom of expression.
Yesterday Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics: ‘The mural is indefensibly anti-Semitic.’
‘Jeremy, I think, made clear that he hadn’t looked properly at the mural and that was his defence. The mural represents a strand of thought in the Labour Party about, as it were, Jewish capitalists being at the heart of a whole variety of things... which is utterly wrong and unacceptable.’
Lord Falconer said he was willing to oversee Labour’s disciplinary procedures and is ‘very keen’ that the terms are agreed to ensure he has the required resources to be effective. He also warned Labour’s electoral chances could be damaged by the row.
A man was arrested after Mr Corbyn had an egg thrown at him during a visit to Finsbury Park Mosque, north London. Police said the 41-year-old was ‘quickly detained’ by officers.