The leopard does not change its spots: Jeremy Corbyn and Hatem Bazian

It is now barely a week since Labour’s Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, stood before a Labour Friends of Israel lunch and declared: “Let me say something before we get any further today about taking on antisemitism in the Labour Party: that’s a moral responsibility. I am ashamed that I am saying antisemitism and Labour in the same sentence. But dealing with it can’t be something we do for show, for the sake of it, because we’ve come under media pressure, or because we need to deal with a political problem. It’s a commandment. I know that people here are understandably frustrated by how long it’s taking the Labour Party to deal with antisemitism in our midst. You’re right to be. It should have been quicker. I know there are still some outstanding issues that cannot be ignored. They won’t be ignored. Action is being taken now and if, G-d forbid, we find these problems again, action will be quicker in the future.”

As if to publicly right what he seems to see as a wrong, the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has met with one Hatem Bazian: a founder and leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the pro-Islamist American Muslims for Palestine. The event, significantly, was Bazian’s book signing and was hosted by Press TV, the international television channel of the Iranian regime, by which Mr Corbyn has previously been paid as a presenter. The event was organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission Trust, organiser of an annual march through London brazenly supporting proscribed genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation Hizballah, which led Campaign Against Antisemitism to complain about the Trust to the Charity Commission, on which we await an outcome.

Bazian has allegedly quoted in public the infamous Haddith enshrined in the Hamas constitution: “The Day of Judgment will not happen until the trees and stones will say, ‘Oh Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’” His organisation has constantly breached the International Definition of Antisemitism, comparing Israelis to the Nazis and calling into question Israel’s very right to exist. Bazian himself is alleged to have raised money for Hamas, a genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation. This litany demonises Israel as the ‘Jew among nations’. He has publicly asked whether Jews should “have to pay reparations for slavery”

Bazian is credited with presenting his antisemitic movement as ‘progressive’ to a whole generation of students, yet SJP members have reportedly intimidated, harassed and even allegedly assaulted a Jewish student. Their demonstrations feature chants in support of terrorism targeting Israeli Jews.

Trust between the Jewish community of this country and the Labour Party is at an all-time low. The antisemites of the Oxford University Labour Club, Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker, and scores of others have still not been disciplined. The Chakrabarti report has drawn a veil over new cases of antisemitism. The cross-party House of Commons Home Affairs Committee  has issued a warning about antisemitism within the Labour Party and on university campuses. It therefore beggars belief that on Wednesday night Jeremy Corbyn chose to fête Hatem Bazain.

For a man who leads Her Majesty’s Opposition to take time out of his onerous schedule to meet Hatem Bazian in public, is unmistakable in its symbolism and signalling: the leopard not only does not change its spots, but is parading them for Tom Watson and the Jewish community to behold.

We still await a response to our complaint to Tom Watson about Jeremy Corbyn.

Should Jews Have To Pay Reparations for Slavery? https://t.co/w58LVW6V64 via @jdforward

— Dr. Hatem Bazian (@HatemBazian) February 22, 2016