ExtremismU.K. Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn compared Israel to Nazi Germany
The British Labor Party has been embroiled in a bitter dispute over anti-Semitism in Labor ranks, and what many critics of Labor leader Jeremy Corbin see as his tolerance of hate-speech, and his own “insensitivity” (his words) to issues dear to British Jews. The London Times yesterday reported that in 2010, when he was a backbencher, Corbyn hosted an event on Holocaust Memorial Day at the House of Commons, where he likened Israeli government policy to that of the Nazis.
Jeremy Corbyn in 2010 compared Israeli actions in Gaza to military action by Nazi Germany at Stalingrad.
The London Times reports today (Thursday) that in 2010, when Corbyn was a backbencher, he spoke at a rally outside the Israeli Embassy and said: “I was in Gaza three months ago. I saw… the psychological damage to a whole generation, who’ve been imprisoned for as long as the siege of Leningrad and Stalingrad took place.”
His speech at the rally came six months after he hosted an event on Holocaust Memorial Day at the House of Commons, where he likened Israeli government policy to that of the Nazis.
A Labor spokesman defended the 2010 speech, suggesting that: “Jeremy was not comparing the actions of Nazis and Israelis but the conditions of civilian populations in besieged cities in wartime.”
The Times has also revealed that Jeremy Corbyn appeared on Iran’s Press TV in 2012 and questioned whether there was a “serious case” against any of the 1000 Hamas members involved in terrorist attacks that killed more than 600 Israelis and who were released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap deal. Corbyn repeatedly referred to the released Hamas members as “brothers” on the Press TV show, Remember Palestine.
Corbyn also said: “You have to ask the question why they’re in prison in the first place… you just realise that this mass imprisonment of Palestinians is actually part of a much bigger political game. Corporal Shalit apparently equals the lives of a very, very large number of Palestinian people. Well I’m glad that those that were released, were released, and I hope they’re now in safe places.”
Joan Ryan, Labor MP and Chair of Labor Friends of Israel, has demanded an investigation into Corbyn’s comments, stating: “It is beyond abhorrent that the leader of the Labor party would ever welcome the release of such depraved terrorists.”
Corbyn and the Labor Party have been embroiled in an intensifying storm over what some charge is Corbyn’s tolerance of open anti-Semitism in Labor ranks. Matters came to a head a few weeks ago, when a Labor Party panel looking into the issue of anti-Semitism.
