Now Corbyn fails to sack MP who lied about Zionism slur
LaBour’S anti-Semitism crisis plumbed new depths last night after Jeremy Corbyn refused to sack one of his biggest allies for launching an anti-Zionist tirade.
richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, strenuously denied making the offensive comment that ‘Zionism is an enemy of peace’ after it was exposed by the Mail in 2016.
But yesterday he was forced to admit he had done so after video footage emerged of him saying those very words. Nevertheless, he failed to apologise – merely saying he ‘regretted’ using the phrase.
Jewish groups demanded he be removed from his shadow cabinet position and said it proved Labour’s claims to be clamping down on anti-Semitism were a sham.
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the same right to a national homeland as other nations. The term is often used as an insult by those who deny that Israel has a right to exist.
Mr Burgon, who would become Lord Chancellor if Labour were to win power, is one of Mr Corbyn’s key allies. Yesterday, a 2014 video emerged of him telling an audience: ‘The enemy of the Palestinian people is not the Jewish people. The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.’ However, when asked about a Mail report in 2016 that he had used these words, Mr Burgon denied he had done so.
He told the BBC’s Daily Politics show he ‘didn’t say that’ and added: ‘That’s not my view.’
He said: ‘I didn’t make those comments... I was asked when I was meant to have made those comments – no one could tell me... it’s not my view.’ He added that he believed ‘on occasions, like the governments of other countries, Israel has been an enemy of peace’.
Last night Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour against anti-Semitism, called for Mr Burgon to be sacked over the ‘damning’ footage. He said 93 per cent of British Jews ‘identify as Zionists’ and that Mr Burgon’s comments ‘appear to be a clear incitement of hostility towards them’.
He added: ‘We demand Jeremy Corbyn take immediate action and withdraw the whip from Mr Burgon, while there should be no question of him remaining in the shadow cabinet... This is a serious matter and someone allegedly making these racially inflammatory comments should have no place in any mainstream political party. This needs to be dealt with and not just swept under the carpet.’
Mike Katz, of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: ‘You can’t play at being a Lord Chancellor-in-waiting whilst making dog whistle attacks on British Jews and their right, through Zionism, for national self-determination.’ Last night Mr Burgon said: ‘When it was put to me in august 2016 that I had made these remarks I did not recall doing so and therefore asked for the full quotes to be provided to me, and asked when and where I had said it.
‘I received no reply... It is now clear that I did and I regret doing so.’ He added that when he made the remarks in 2014 he failed to ‘distinguish between those seeking a peaceful solution... and those, such as the current Israeli government, which is undermining efforts towards peace’.
He said: ‘The simplistic language used does not reflect how I now think about this complex issue and I would not use it again today.’
In 2016 the Mail also reported that Sami ramadani – described by Mr Corbyn as a ‘great friend’ – wrote online: ‘IS are not the only brutal terrorists rampaging & killing people in the Middle East.’
Labour MP Margaret Hodge has been branded a ‘disgraceful Zionist spy’ by Corbyn supporters after leaking a recording of him admitting anti-Semitism cases had been ‘ignored’.