A senior leader of the UK’s Jewish community has accused Jeremy Corbyn of declaring war on the religion and its members. The claim was made in a television interview on Tuesday with Israeli network i24 News.
Marie van der Zyl — the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews — said the mounting allegations of systemic anti-Semitism in the Labour Party had left Jews feeling isolated, “Every day you think it cannot get any worse but every day it does. We’re learning that he’s spent more and more time with terrorists, with extremists.”
The UK Jewish leader said the community is “feeling nervous, we’re feeling anxious, it’s like Jeremy Corbyn has declared war on the Jews at home. We’ve never been in this situation, it’s unprecedented.”
Describing his “cult” status among supporters, she said “his hatred of Israel and Zionism runs so deep, he cannot separate that from anti-Semitism.”
Such has been the level of antagonism shown by Mr Corbyn’s supporters towards the UK Jewish community, that protests against the party are now becoming commonplace.
People hold up placards and Union flags as they gather for a demonstration organised by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism outside the head office of the British opposition Labour Party in central London. (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images)
As Breitbart London reported, Labour — once headed by Jewish heritage Ed Miliband — has been embroiled in anti-Semitism scandals since the elevation of Mr. Corbyn to the party’s leadership in September 2015.
At a meeting hosted by the Stop the War coalition in 2009, the lifelong leftist referred to Lebanese terror organisation Hezbollah and Palestinian terror group Hamas as “friends”.
Calling Hezbollah “an organisation that is dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about long-term peace and social justice”, Mr. Corbyn said it was “really a big, big historical mistake” to designate it a terrorist organisation.
The socialist MP for Islington North is a “patron” of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, attended numerous anti-Israel events, backed Holocaust denying pro-Palestinian activist Paul Eisen, and in some 100 other instances outlined by the Guido Fawkes political blog has sided with Islamist, as well as Irish Republican Army (IRA), terrorists.
Recent polls revealed that British Jews are fleeing the Labour Party in droves, with the Antisemitism Barometer finding that four in five Jews believe that the party harbours anti-Semites in its ranks.
Marie van der Zyl nodded to Mr. Corbyn’s past history when she asked in her i24 News interview why “good people” saw Mr. Corbyn, who “spends his time with.. people that threaten the security of Britain”, as a potential future prime minister, adding that if he were to get the top job it would have “major implications, not just for Jews”.
Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com
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