Labour’s Rosh Hashanah video features Jeremy Corbyn in conversation with Jew who said Kaddish for Hamas terrorists
Jeremy Corbyn’s Rosh Hashanah message, traditionally directed to the Jewish community, features the Labour leader in conversation with a Jewish activist who was one of several young Jews who recited the traditional Jewish memorial prayer, known as Kaddish, for those killed on the Gaza border in Spring 2018 protests.
Despite Hamas’ confirmation that some 50 of the 62 fatalities were their own operatives, the activists read out all of the names of those killed. Consequently, the ceremony, which took place in May 2018 in Parliament Square, caused significant controversy and elicited opprobrium from the mainstream Jewish community.
The video, which appropriates the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah and the custom of eating apples and honey to signify a sweet new year ahead in order to promote Labour’s environmental policies, was also widely panned for poor taste.
Jon Lansman, the prominent pro-Corbyn Momentum activist who is himself Jewish, is also seen in the video.
Mr Corbyn is notorious for, among other controversies, describing Hamas terrorists as “friends”, but the decision to feature this activist so prominently in his Rosh Hashanah message shows that only Jews on the fringes of communal life are prepared to associate with the Labour leader, and conversely it also shows that the only Jews with whom Mr Corbyn is apparently prepared to associate are precisely those who hold opinions far outside of the Jewish mainstream and in accordance with his own extreme views.
On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In recent months, twelve MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”
