Corbyn’s ‘undeclared’ West Bank trip
JEREMY CORBYN IS facing claims that he visited Israel and the West Bank with an Islamist lobby group to meet Hamas officials — but didn’t declare the funding for the trip in an apparent breach of parliamentary rules.
He went as a backbencher in November 2010 as part of a delegation with Middle East Monitor (MEMO) who met two groups of Hamas parliamentarians.
But Israel’s i24NEWS channel found no record in the British Parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests, even though Labour MP Andrew Slaughter declared the cost of flights and accommodation for the same trip as £927, which he said was paid for by Friends of Al-Aqsa and Middle East Monitor.
Mr Corbyn’s senior aide, Seumas Milne, was also on the trip. Rules at the time required MPs to declare any gifts above £660 ($840).
The record of Mr Corbyn’s visit to Jerusalem had been deleted by MEMO — but a version of the document was found again this week.
He is reported to have visited the wife of a man convicted of spying for Hezbollah, whom the report called a “political prisoner”.
He also met Arab-Israeli lawmakers Jamal Zahalka and Taleb el-Sana, visited Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, attended a Bedouin protest and met Mr Corbyn and Andrew Slaughter ( far left) with Hamas officials Palestinian Authority officials.
But according to the MEMO report, Mr Corbyn did not meet a single Jewish Israeli on the trip.
Mr Corbyn wrote later in the Morning Star: “It is time to bring those Israelis who committed crimes against humanity to account and to end the EU-Israel Trade Agreement while the occupation and settlement policy continues.”
Tory MP Andrew Percy confirmed that he has referred Mr Corbyn’s trip to Kathryn Stone, parliamentary commissioner for standards.
One Labour insider is quoted as saying: “I imagine he’s met more people who have killed Israelis than actual Israelis.”
The Sunday Telegraph had earlier revealed that Mr Corbyn had made at least nine visits abroad since 2007 which he had not declared in the register. But Labour said they were “confident” that all declarations over the threshold were made.
Mr Corbyn insists that his 2010 trip, including flights and two nights at a five-star hotel, fell below the financial threshold for disclosing gifts.
On the latest claims, a Labour spokesperson said: “Jeremy has a long and principled record of solidarity with Palestinian people and engaging with actors in the conflict to support peace and justice in the Middle East. That is the right thing to do.”