Lord Jonathan Sacks: Jeremy Corbyn is “an antisemite” who has “given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews”
The former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks has labelled Jeremy Corbyn “an antisemite” in the peer’s first major comments on Labour’s antisemitism crisis. The remarks represent a dramatic intervention and reflect the depth of feeling in the Jewish community toward the Labour leader personally, as well as his handling of antisemitism in his party.
Lord Sacks described Mr Corbyn’s recently disclosed remarks from 2013 about British “Zionists” — widely understood as a euphemistic reference to Jews — not understanding history or irony as “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.”
The former chief rabbi went on to say: “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 antisemitism. 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.”
He went on to warn that “now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an antisemite 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.”
Labour’s response was to decry the offensiveness of comparing Mr Corbyn to Enoch Powell, deny the comments about British “Zionists” were a euphemism for Jews and reiterate the party’s intention to tackle antisemitism.
Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds Lord Sacks for his pivotal intervention, which comes after a summer of relentless revelations about Mr Corbyn. That one of the UK’s most prominent religious Jewish personalities has seen enough to condemn Mr Corbyn as an antisemite is the most damning indictment yet of the Labour Party and its leader, who is unfit to hold public office.