Jeremy Corbyn has acknowledged that the British Labour Party has a problem with anti-Semitism and apologised for failing to take more effective action against it. He also admitted that some left-wing critics of Israel were anti-Semitic, although he said criticism of Israel's occupation of Palestine could not be avoided.
Mr Corbyn was responding to a letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council accusing him of siding with anti-Semites against Jews and failing to take action against anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
“I recognise that anti-Semitism has surfaced within the Labour party, and has too often been dismissed as simply a matter of a few bad apples. This has caused pain and hurt to Jewish members of our party and to the wider Jewish community in Britain. I am sincerely sorry for the pain which has been caused, and pledge to redouble my efforts to bring this anxiety to an end,” Mr Corbyn wrote.
Jewish groups have long complained that some left-wing critics of Israel are anti-Semitic, and the Labour leader acknowledged that anti-Israeli rhetoric could be anti-Semitic.
“Criticism of Israel, particularly in relation to the continuing dispossession of the Palestinian people, cannot be avoided. Nevertheless, comparing Israel or the actions of Israeli governments to the Nazis, attributing criticisms of Israel to Jewish characteristics or to Jewish people in general and using abusive phraseology about supporters of Israel such as ‘Zio’ all constitute aspects of contemporary anti-Semitism. And Jewish people must not be held responsible or accountable for the actions of the Israeli government,” he said.
‘I am your ally’
Jewish critics of the Labour leader demonstrated outside parliament on Monday evening, along with a small group of Jewish supporters of Mr Corbyn. The latest controversy erupted after it emerged that, in a Facebook post in 2012, Mr Corbyn expressed support for the painter of an anti-Semitic mural in the East End of London that had been threatened with removal.
“The idea of Jewish bankers and capitalists exploiting the workers of the world is an old anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. This was long ago, and rightly, described as ‘the socialism of fools’. I am sorry for not having studied the content of the mural more closely before wrongly questioning its removal in 2012,” he said on Monday.
“The battle against anti-Semitism should never become a party political issue. It must unite all of us if we are both to honour the memory of the victims of the bestial crimes of the 20th century and build a future of equality and justice for all. In that spirit, I must make it clear that I will never be anything other than a militant opponent of anti-Semitism. In this fight, I am your ally and always will be.”
