Corbyn and fanatic who gloated over troop deaths
He entertained radical who said ‘death of every British soldier is a victory’
JEREMY CORBYN hosted a debate i n Parliament with a Muslim firebrand who said the death of every British soldier in Iraq was a ‘victory’.
Lebanese-born Dyab Abou Jahjah lived in Belgium for many years and set up a radical political party there.
He was accused of organising race riots in 2002 but later acquitted.
As leader of the Arab European League, at the height of the Iraq conflict he gave an interview to a Flemish newspaper celebrating the deaths of Western troops.
‘I consider every death of an American, British or Dutch soldier as a victory,’ he told Het Laatste Nieuws in 2004. The AEL said it ‘saluted’ the insurgency against US-led forces in the battle for the city of Fallujah.
Jahjah – dubbed the ‘Belgian Malcolm X’ in reference to the 1960s US black rights activist – attended a parliamentary meeting in 2009 sitting next to Mr Corbyn. The would-be Labour leader hosted the event, which was also attended by a representative of the militant group Hezbollah.
Douglas Murray, of the Henry Jackson Society think-tank, accused Mr Corbyn of being a ‘cheerleader’ for Jahjah. He said: ‘ Mr Corbyn hosted him long after his views because widely known. That is what makes this case so troubling.’
By the time of the meeting, Jahjah had left AEL and set up the International Union of Parliamentarians for Palestine, whose website says it is devoted to supporting the ‘glorious’ Palestinian intifada – violent uprising – against Israel.
After a complaint was made about the meeting, he was banned from Britain, despite the efforts of Mr Corbyn to challenge the Home Office’s decision.
Jahjah wrote on his Facebook page yesterday that it was ‘ludicrous’ to claim he was anti-Semitic. He said: ‘The Zionist lobby pressured the UK government into banning me from entering the UK based on these same lies. My collaboration with MP Corbyn has always been based upon a common belief in dialogue, justice and equality of all people.’
A spokesperson for Mr Corbyn did not deny that he had hosted Jahjah in 2009, saying: ‘Jeremy is opposed to the use of violence in the Middle East on both sides. He’s met a lot of people from all sides as part of his campaign to contribute to bringing about lasting peace in the Middle East. Because he meets with someone, it does not mean he agrees with his views.’
During his days at the AEL, Jahjah responded to the controversy surrounding the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad by a Danish newspaper in 2006 by publishing shocking anti-Semitic cartoons on his website. One showed Adolf Hitler and 15-year-old Holocaust victim Anne Frank in bed together with the caption: ‘Write that in your diary, Anne.’ He also lamented at the time that: ‘People in Europe are not allowed to do a free historical examination of the Second World War and the Holocaust and freely express an opinion.’
Mr Corbyn has already been forced to clarify his links with selfconfessed Holocaust denier Paul Eisen after he was pictured at one of his events two years ago. The North Islington MP admitted attending ‘two or three’ meetings of Deir Yassin Remembered and may have given them a donation. He said he was not aware of Eisen’s well-publicised views which saw his organisation dropped by mainstream pro-Palestinian groups.
Mr Corbyn is runaway favourite to win the Labour leadership contest despite Labour grandees warning members not to vote for him.
Lord Kinnock was the latest to weigh in, saying the party must not lapse into ‘corrosive’ self-indulgence and that Labour members must ‘learn the lessons the past’.
Yvette Cooper’s team called on Andy Burnham to step aside from the contest yesterday after he praised Mr Corbyn’s energy. Mr Burnham hit back, saying he was the only candidate who could beat the veteran Left-winger.