Jeremy Corbyn reported again to MPs' watchdog over undeclared Hamas meeting trip

Emilio Casalicchio

Jeremy Corbyn has been reported to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog yet again amid claims he failed to declare another visit to the Middle East.



The Labour leader visited Israel and the West Bank in November 2010 and met officials of the Hamas group - but did not mention the trip, funded by lobby group Middle East Monitor, in his register of interests.

Labour MP Andrew Slaughter declared £927 for the same visit. The threshold for reporting at the time stood at £660.

Tory MP Andrew Percy - the vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-Semitism - referred the matter to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

He told the Times: “Whether the trip was properly declared or not, this visit was a further example of Mr Corbyn’s apparent indulgence of extremists such as Hamas.

“We are repeatedly told that these visits are to promote peace but in truth they do the exact opposite by giving credibility to the most extreme elements of just one side of this conflict,” he added.

Mr Corbyn was last week reported over an undeclared 2014 visit to Tunisia at which he laid a wreath in a Palestinian “martyrs” cemetery.

'TAKEAWAY'

Meanwhile, the Sun reported that Mr Corbyn met ex-Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in 2010 and enjoyed a takeaway dinner with him.

Mr Mashal has reportedly urged violence against Israel, while the military wing of Hamas has been proscribed in the UK since 2001.

Mr Corbyn wrote about the meeting shortly afterwards in an article for the Morning Star - but yesterday he said: “I don’t remember any takeaway dinners.”

On a visit to Scotland, he added: “I have met many people from many aspects of the Palestinian cause as a way of bringing about dialogue, as a way of bringing about peace.”

'HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT'

Elsewhere, a Jewish Labour member has refused to put himself forward for a target seat because he says the party has created a “hostile environment” for Jews.

Oliver Coppard - who stood against Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam in 2015 before Jared O’Mara won the seat in 2017 - said in an article for HuffPost UK that Labour had “fallen victim to the intolerance of our own factionalism”.

'WHO NOT TO VOTE FOR'

Meanwhile, a top staff member of Mr Corbyn was alleged to have written a pamphlet ahead of the 2010 election urging Labour supporters to back other parties if their candidates was a “friend of Israel”.

According to the Sun, Nicolette Petersen, who serves as the Labour leader’s personal secretary, said voters should read Jewish newspapers to “show you who not to vote for”.

A Labour Party spokesman told the paper: “We don’t comment on staffing matters.”