Arab MKs defend Corbyn amid runaway anti-Semitism scandal

In an op-ed published in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Arab members of the Israeli parliament championed UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who remains under fire due to perisitent anti-Semitism accusations.

By: World Israel News Staff

On Sunday, the UK’s Guardian newspaper published a letter signed by four Arab members of the Israeli parliament, expressing their support for the embattled leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn’s aspirations to serve as the next prime minister have been cast into question by the flood of revelations regarding his statements about Israel and “Zionists” in the UK, in addition to his participation at events such as a memorial honoring terrorists responsible for the Munich massacre.

In recent days, calls for Corbyn’s resignation have come from members of his own party and prominent religious leaders, such as the former leader of the UK’s Jewish community, Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Notwithstanding the outrage surrounding Corbyn’s comments and actions, the Arab MKs who penned the letter in the Guardian had high praise for the British politician.

“[W]e are writing to express our solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn,” the letter begins, continuing by commending him “for his decades of public service to the British people, and for his longstanding solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world, including his unflinching support for the Palestinian people.”

The letter concludes, “We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn and we recognize him as a principled leftist leader who aspires for peace and justice and is opposed to all forms of racism, whether directed at Jews, Palestinians, or any other group.”

The signatories of the letter are MKs Ahmad Tibi, Masud Ganaim, Yousef Jabareen, and Jamal Zahalka, who claimed to have signed the missive on behalf of “all 13 members of the Knesset who are part of the Joint [Arab] List.”

The letter was published just a few days after Sacks condemned Corbyn and his rhetoric in a no-holds-barred letter in the New Standard in which he wrote, “[Corbyn] 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 anti-Semitism. When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates. This is low, dishonest and dangerous.”

On Sunday, Sacks told the BBC that for the first time in centuries, Jews in the UK are questioning whether it is safe to raise children there.

Arab Joint ListArab Members of KnessetJeremy Corbyn