Piers Corbyn suggests “troublemakers” in Jewish areas posted leaflets comparing COVID-19 to Auschwitz through their own doors in “plot” to portray him as antisemitic

Piers Corbyn has suggested that “troublemakers” in Jewish areas posted leaflets created and distributed by Mr Corbyn, which compared the COVID-19 vaccines to the Auschwitz death camp, through their own doors in a “plot” to portray him as antisemitic.

Referencing a headline in the Evening Standard that the new COVID-19 vaccines are a “safe path to freedom”, the leaflets showed the slogan atop the infamous gates to Auschwitz.

In an interview clip that was uploaded to Twitter on Sunday, Mr Corbyn discussed the leaflets that he distributed last December, an incident that saw him arrested.

At one point during the interview, the interviewer held up a leaflet and said: “This was accused of being antisemitic,” to which Mr Corbyn responded by saying that he and his team were attacking the Evening Standard headline.

Mr Corbyn added: “We were then accused of being antisemitic, but that is insane. We were anti-Nazi. We’re against what the Nazis were doing.”

When asked “Why was it leafleted in Jewish areas?”, Mr Corbyn replied: “It wasn’t specifically leafleted in any particular areas. That is a lie made up by the media. Or, some troublemakers leafleted it through their own doors, I suspect, and then came forward.”

“To try and portray you as antisemitic?”, the interviewer asked, to which Mr Corbyn responded “Yes, yes.” When the interviewer asked whether it was a conspiracy or not, Mr Corbyn replied: “Well, certainly a plot.”

Mr Corbyn also stated that he was arrested before the police allegedly returned his leaflets and dropped the charge of “giving out leaflets of malicious intent.” Mr Corbyn then went on to reiterate that “there’s no justification whatsoever” that the leaflets were antisemitic.

Responding to his arrest in the past, Mr Corbyn absurdly argued that he could not be antisemitic because he had been married to a Jewish woman and once employed a Jewish person who was a “superb worker.” Mr Corbyn reportedly protested: “The idea we’re antisemitic in any way is completely absurd. I was married for 22 years to a Jewess and obviously her mother’s forebears fled the Baltic states just before the war because of Hitler or the Nazis in general. I’ve worked with Jewish leading world scientists over the last 30 years. I’ve also employed Jewish people in my business Weather Action, one of whom was a superb worker.” 

Recent footage showed Mr Corbyn comparing vaccinations to Nazi policy outside the Houses of Parliament. The video showed Mr Corbyn and another man standing in front of a sign which reads “No Nazi forced jab” and yelling “arrest Matt Hancock” through a megaphone. 

On 20th July, Mr Corbyn, alongside other anti-vaccination protesters, showed their support at a far-left demonstration that was held outside of Labour Party headquarters. Speaking about the COVID-19 vaccination and the lockdown, Mr Corbyn said: “You know what happened in Germany. The left there, they were begging Hitler to support them. They believed in Hitler. You know what happened. The rest is history…the Jews were labelled as a danger and were locked up.” Mr Corbyn also gave an interview at the demonstration in which he denied that he, or his brother Jeremy Corbyn, were antisemites.

Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

Mr Corbyn has a history of controversy in relation to antisemitic conspiracy theories. He has previously retweeted @whiteknight0011, a notorious neo-Nazi who declared that “They will force Trump in to war What do you think happened to Hitler? Bilderberg CIA IMF Banker Gangsters They are the problem” along with four images. The @whiteknight0011 account has since been suspended. One image showed Lord Jacob Rothschild, the Jewish banker and philanthropist, against the background of a Nazi flag, claiming that he controls the world. A second showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a puppeteer controlling ISIS through Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, orchestrating the war in Syria and Paris attacks as Lord Rothschild and the Queen look on approvingly. A third image showed the faces of supposed Jewish conspirators who run the world to society’s detriment, proclaiming: “Know your enemy”. The last image showed a family photo of the Royal Family, claiming that they are in cahoots with these Jewish conspirators in committing “the worst genocides, invasions and theft in all history.”

Mr Corbyn has also claimed that “Zionists” were conspiring against his brother: when Jewish then-MP Louise Ellman complained of antisemitic attacks against her, Piers accused her of using it as a cover for political attack, tweeting: “ABSURD! JC+ All #Corbyns are committed #AntiNazi. #Zionists can’t cope with anyone supporting rights for #Palestine”.