Jeremy Corbyn sparks row within Charedi community after agreeing to meet controversial activist

A senior communal source on Wednesday evening insisted there was still a “slim chance” Sunday’s meeting could go ahead.

Ms Abbott has been seeking to repair her reputation within the Charedi community after she was accused of sitting silently as a motion in her Hackney North Constituency Labour Party (CLP) dismissing claims that Labour was “institutionally antisemitic” was debated in February. Local Jewish Labour members were said to be “in tears” as it passed.

Mr Corbyn’s decision to attend the meeting sparked outrage both within his local community and among Jewish Labour activists after it was revealed on the JC website on Tuesday.

The JC understands that Levi Shapiro, founder of the increasingly influential Jewish Community Council, was among those demanding that the meeting was cancelled. Leading rabbis within the UOHC also made clear to Mr Stern their anger at the meeting and said they would issue a statement condemning him.

Mr Stern relented and sent out a text message on Wednesday to allies that the planned meeting with the Labour leadership had now been postponed.

Mr Corbyn has developed close ties with Rabbi Gluck, who offered his home as the venue for Sunday’s meeting.

When the Labour leader was hit by an egg after visiting the Finsbury Park Mosque last month, Rabbi Gluck rushed to the scene to comfort Mr Corbyn and implore him to start using security guards for protection.

Last month Mr Stern, a maverick campaigner, branded widely respected local Rabbi Avraham Pinter a “kapo” in an angry email sent to hundreds of Charedi residents.

The term “kapo” refers to Jews who forced other Jews to work in concentration camps, reporting misdemeanours to Nazi officers in return for extra rations. It is considered the most offensive insult one Jew can use against another.

Both Mr Stern and Rabbi Pinter are opposed to the government’s Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) reforms which will force teachers to teach about non-heterosexual relations and gender identities different to those at birth, but Mr Stern believes that Rabbi Pinter has compromised himself by discussing his concerns with ministers.

Last month Mr Stern attended the protests in Birmingham against RSE at which anti-gay speeches were given from the stage.

Mr Stern has previously suggested a “Zionist agenda” is behind a “smear and witch-hunt” against Mr Corbyn.

One leading communal source told the JC: “These are classic divide and rule tactics by Jeremy Corbyn with the Jewish community.

“By courting a marginal figure such as Shraga Stern, the Labour leader is showing the vast majority of British Jews, including Charedi Jews, complete disrespect.”

Ella Rose, former national director of the Jewish Labour Movement, was amongst those who attacked the decision of the Labour leader to meet Mr Stern this weekend, saying: “Corbyn is meeting a homophobe who called a fellow Jew (and former Labour Cllr) a kapo. Says it all really.”

Melantha Chittenden, co-chair of LGBT Labour, also criticised Mr Corbyn: “I find the fact you won’t sit in a room with Chuka Umunna but you will actively seek out and visit a man who is actively campaigning against LGBT inclusive relationship and sex education an absolute disgrace.”

Mr Stern has organised several letters defending Mr Corbyn against claims of antisemitism, including a letter to the Sunday Times which said Mr Corbyn “bent over backwards to help Jewish people”.

But the JC later revealed that at least half of the signatories on the letter — which said the “real current threat to Jewish life in the UK” was not Labour but the “anti-religious education policies being relentlessly pursued by Ofsted” — had no idea what they were signing.

In January, Mr Corbyn and his wife were spotted with Mr Stern at the official Holocaust Memorial Day event. Mr Corbyn, wife Ms Alvarez, Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby and three other party officials, including his chief of staff Karie Murphy, walked into the venue with Mr Stern.

Days earlier, during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Stern was spotted in the company of Mr Corbyn’s wife watching from the balcony.

Rabbi Pinter, who opposed the meeting with Mr Corbyn, has previously said that he was “shocked” by Ms Abbott’s failure to intervene over a motion in her Hackney North Constituency Labour Party (CLP) dismissing claims that Labour was “institutionally antisemitic”. Ms Abbott sat silent throughout the debate as Jewish members cried.

Rabbi Pinter said he “no longer feels welcome” at CLP meetings and that “the atmosphere is absolutely toxic these days”.

Sources confirmed to the JC that Rabbi Pinter has felt “upset” and “bullied” following his decision to criticise Ms Abbott over her conduct at the local Labour meeting.

The long-time Labour member is said to have repeatedly attempted to contact Ms Abbott to ask her to explain her decision not to speak up for Jewish members at the CLP meeting.

But the Shadow Home Secretary failed to respond to any of Rabbi Pinter’s text messages — at which point he decided to speak out.

In bid to counter criticism of Ms Abbott, a letter written under the aegis of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations to Ms Abbott said it believed she “wholeheartedly opposes antisemitism”, contrary to “certain media reports”. But sources have confirmed to the JC that the letter was again drafted with the involvement of Mr Stern and his supporters. Another leading Charedi source said there was “widespread concern” about the Shadow Home Secretary’s failure to address Labour’s antisemitism problem.

“Diane Abbott signed an early day motion in 2010 on the antisemitism issue,” said the source. “She’s been largely invisible since then. Shraga Stern is trying to manipulate opinion in the community in favour of her when she’s done next to nothing to help us for years now.”

Last Thursday, a representative from Ms Abbott’s office arrived at the offices of the Beth Din in Stamford Hill accompanied by a member of the Charedi community.

The move was intended to show Ms Abbott’s concern at suggestions she had turned her back on the community.