Former chief rabbi says Jeremy Corbyn 'Zionists' speech was worst since Enoch Powell

A former chief rabbi has said an address by Jeremy Corbyn in which he claimed British Zionists have "no sense of English irony" was "the most offensive" by a leading politician since Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech.



Jonathan Sacks also branded the Labour leader an "anti-Semite" who has "given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate". Labour hit back, calling the comparison with the controversial late Conservative MP "absurd and offensive".

Mr Corbyn was at the centre of a fresh anti-Semitism row last week after footage of his remarks, which he made in 2013, re-emerged.

In the clip, which was unearthed by the Daily Mail, Mr Corbyn tells a London conference that British Zionists "clearly have two problems".

"One is they don't want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don't understand English irony either," he went on.

And he said: "They needed two lessons, which we could perhaps help them with."

Speaking to the New Statesman, Mr Sacks - who was chief rabbi from 1991 until 2013 - said: "The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell’s 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech.

"It was divisive, hateful and like Powell’s speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.

“We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions. He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove from Israel from the map. When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.

"When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates. This is low, dishonest and dangerous. He has legitimised the public expression of hate, and where he leads, others will follow.

“Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an anti-Semite as the leader of the Labour party and Her Majesty’s opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him.

“For more than three and a half centuries, the Jews of Britain have contributed to every aspect of national life. We know our history better than Mr Corbyn, and we have learned that the hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Mr Corbyn’s embrace of hate defiles our politics and demeans the country we love."

Pushing back at the former chief rabbi's intervention, a Labour spokepserson said: "This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.

"Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense - not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.

"Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society, and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community."

In response to criticism of his remarks last week, the Labour leader said: "I am now more careful with how I might use the term ‘Zionist’ because a once self-identifying political term has been increasingly hijacked by anti-Semites as code for Jews."

PALESTINE

Labour has been dogged by controversy all summer over the party's decision not to fully implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism, along with all of its illustrative examples.

A meeting of the party's ruling national executive committee next week is expected to revisit that decision, but 24 Palestinian groups today issued a statement urging them to hold firm, claiming the IHRA stifles legitimate criticism of Israel.

Ben Jamal, director of the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: "This is a hugely significant intervention from a broad coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations whose ongoing struggle for freedom, justice and equality is directly hindered by the IHRA."