Jeremy Corbyn is an “antisemite” whose remarks about British Zionists were “the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician” since Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has said.
The latest row to engulf Mr Corbyn centres on comments made in 2013 by the Labour leader that Zionists “don’t understand English irony” despite having “lived in [the UK] for a very long time”. Footage of the speech resurfaced last week amid a growing standoff between Labour and the Jewish community.
Rabbi Lord Sacks, who was Chief Rabbi between 1991 and 2013, likened it to the infamous 1968 speech by then-Conservative MP Enoch Powell, who argued immigration to the UK would mean "the black man will have the whip hand over the white man".
In an interview with the New Statesman, Rabbi Lord Sacks said: “It was divisive, hateful and like Powell’s speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.
“We can only judge Jeremy Corbyn by his words and his actions. He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.
“When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British. He is using the language of classic pre-war European antisemitism.
“When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.
“Now, within living memory of the Holocaust, and while Jews are being murdered elsewhere in Europe for being Jews, we have an antisemite as the leader of the Labour Party and Her Majesty’s Opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr Corbyn and those who support him."
The Labour Party responded by describing Rabbi Lord Sacks' comments as "absurd and offensive", insisting Mr Corbyn did not use "Zionist" as a synonym for Jews.
The party spokesperson said: "Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense - not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.
"Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society, and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community."
Last week Mr Corbyn defended his 2013 remarks, which he made during a speech at the Palestinian Return Centre. He said he was “defending the Palestinian ambassador in the face of what he thought were deliberate misrepresentations by people for whom English was a first language, when it isn't for the ambassador”.
A spokesperson for the Labour leader said at the time: "This was a speech about the need to better teach the history of Israel-Palestine and about the brutality of colonialism, occupation and dispossession.
"A section of the speech that was edited out of the footage posted on YouTube sets his comments in context, he had been speaking about Zionists and non-Zionist Jews and very clearly does not go on to use Zionists as any kind of shorthand for Jews."
