Corbyn’s rant at UK ‘dishonesty’ over Israel
JEREMY Corbyn once branded the Balfour Declaration which gave Jewish people a right to a home in Israel the ‘ultimate act of total dishonesty’.
Speaking at an event in 2012, the Labour leader also laughed as he recounted how he had been asked to tear down a statue of the former prime minister.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration announced the British government’s support for the establishment of a ‘national home for Jewish people’ in Palestine.
Newly- emerged footage of the event, hosted by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, shows Mr Corbyn branding the declaration an ‘absolute act of dishonesty’ which has ‘been played out ever since’.
He also talks about giving an ‘anti-Imperialist tour of Parliament’ to five firefighters from Jenin, Palestine. When they come to the statue of Arthur Balfour, who was prime minister from 1902 to 1905, one asked: ‘Can we tear it down now?’
Mr Corbyn laughs as he describes the encounter, which he said took place in 2010, adding: ‘They wanted to just take it away. They had that sense of history.
‘We have a responsibility. The Balfour Declaration was an ultimate act of total dishonesty to both the Palestinian and Jewish people seeking some place of safety in the world.’
Last night independent MP Ian Austin, who quit the Labour Party over antiSemitism, criticised Mr Corbyn – saying the incident was ‘further proof of his obsession with Israel and the Jewish state’.
He added: ‘This has led in turn to hostility to Jewish people… it is no wonder the party has attracted all sorts of racists and extremists.’
A Labour spokesman said the speech was about better teaching of ‘the history of Israel-Palestine and the brutality of colonialism, occupation and dispossession’.