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July 19, 2019 09:35Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog has attacked Jeremy Corbyn's Labour, saying the recent BBC Panorama documentary exposed its "mind-boggling" leniency on antisemitism.
In his letter, he told the Labour leader that the "expansion of antisemitism under your leadership" the programme documented had caused "dismay and distress".
Following an investigation by @BBCPanorama into allegations of #AntiSemitism in the UK Labour Party, Jewish Agency Chairman @Isaac_Herzog sent this letter to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. pic.twitter.com/DE3INgCnxt
— The Jewish Agency for Israel (@JewishAgency) July 18, 2019
"It is legitimate to criticice any government," wrote Mr Herzog, who was chairman of the Israeli Labor Party - Labour's sister party - from 2003 to 2018.
"I have done so myself as leader of the opposition, from within the Knesset – as vibrant and as vivid a democratic parliament as you may find in any liberal democracy."
“But it is racist to attribute to a whole ethnic or religious group negative characteristics, which are supposedly innate.
“It is antisemitic to demonise Israel and Israelis in general as inherently evil. It is anti-Semitic to apply double standards to Israel, that is: To hold it to standards to which no other nation is held.
"And it is antisemitic to delegitimize the Jewish people's right to a sovereign state of its own – and to apply this denial exclusively to Jews and to no other people. All of this relies heavily on ages-old anti-Jewish prejudice, stereotypes and bigotry.
"The new mask of this old hatred fools no one.”
Mr Herzog referred to how he had invited Mr Corbyn to visit Yad Vashem
"It is a shame that you did not respond to this invitation as many other leaders did," he wrote.
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