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Social media storm breaks over Corbyn's 'Jew-free' Holocaust Memorial Day statement

A year after US president Donald Trump was roundly condemned for leaving Jews out of his Holocaust statement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn does the same thing.

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This week saw all the main political party leaders releasing statements to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

All three were general in tone, in acknowledgement of the fact that while the Nazis’ campaign of mass murder centred on European Jews, many other minorities, including gypsies, homosexuals and communists were also killed and buried in mass graves.

Neither the Prime Minister nor the Lib Dems' Vince Cable made specific mention of Jews in their HMD statements.

However opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s was singled out for excoriation on social media after it became apparent that the veteran left-winger had failed to mention Jews or antisemitism in his message.

In a climate where the Labour party is perceived to have a growing problem with antisemitism within its ranks, this own goal stirred up a furious response on Twitter and Facebook.

Journalist Hugo Rifkind was one of the highest-profile social media users to point out Mr Corbyn’s oversight, but the fury ran far deeper and wider than just a few individuals.

A source close to Mr Corbyn told the JC: "Jeremy's message in the memorial book in Parliament clearly refers to the millions of Jewish victims of the Holocaust and their descendants."

UPDATE
After the publication of this story, further information emerged which points to Mr Corbyn having been rather unfairly judged by the Twitter community

 

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