Corbyn under fire for attending anti-Israel seder
British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire for attending a seder hosted by a far-left Jewish group called Jewdas that has described Israel as a “steaming pile of sewage whichroperly disposed of”.
BRITISH Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire for attending a seder hosted by a far-left Jewish group called Jewdas that has described Israel as a “steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of” and called Jewish community protests against his handling of anti-Semitism in the party “a bout of faux-outrage greased with hypocrisy and opportunism”.
According to the Guido Fawkes, during the event on Tuesday, guests shouted “f*** capitalism” and booed the names of Jewish community leaders.
The Haggadah used by Jewdas reportedly includes a “Prayer Against the State of Israel,” and includes the Ten Plagues of the Occupation of Palestine.
“It was very interesting talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain and I learned a lot. Isn’t that a good thing?” said Corbyn, whose spokesman told media that he attended the event, in his Islington constituency, in a personal capacity.
It came just a few days after around 2000 people took to the streets outside Parliament to protest anti-Semitism in the Labour Party with British Jewish leaders penning a letter to the party declaring that “enough is enough,” and lamenting that Corbyn is “repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly anti-Semitic views”.
In the wake of the letter, Corbyn admitted there was a problem within “pockets” of the party, recognised the hurt caused to the community, and said he wanted to meet with communal leaders.
However, a number of Labour MPs who took part in the rally have since faced calls for deselection as candidates by party activists who claim complaints about anti-Semitism within Labour are simply part of a smear campaign.
Jonathan Arkush, president of the British Board of Deputies told Sky News Corbyn had described. anti-Semitism as “vile and evil. So why then did he go to a group that is the source of virulent anti-Semitism and has dismissed the current news about anti-Semitism on the left as a right-wing smear.”
“Either Jeremy Corbyn was deliberately provoking the Jewish community or making a catastrophic error of judgment. I don’t know which of these is true,” Arkush added.
Labour MP John Woodcock, a leader in the Labour Friends of Israel group, said Corbyn’s attendance was “irresponsible and dangerous.”
He added that it was “deliberately baiting the mainstream Jewish community days after they pleaded with him to tackle anti-Semitism”.
Similarly, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Corbyn’s appearance at the seder was “a very clear two-fingered salute at mainstream British Jewry.”
In an op-ed in The Guardian, Jewdas said that it has “attempted to build a community based around activist, socialist and diasporist Judaism in the UK” adding, “While most of us are also active in our local synagogues and other Jewish cultural organisations, only together have we felt able to build the kind of freethinking, traditionally radical Judaism that is needed in the 21st century.”
Meanwhile, one of the Labour’s major donors left the party over its failure to deal with “the most blatant acts of anti-Semitism”.
Sir David Garrard, who is Jewish, has donated about $2.1 million to Labour since 2003.
Garrard said that he has “watched with dismay and foreboding the manner in which the leadership has, in my view, over the last two years, conducted itself. I consider that it has supported and endorsed the most blatant acts of anti-Semitism”.
JTA
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