Corbyn: Jew-hatred in Labour party is merely result of people who ‘dip into’ anti-Semitic language

Corbyn appeared to minimize anti-Semitism in his party. 

By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algemeiner

U.K. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has appeared to once again minimize the problem of Jew-hatred in his party, saying the issue was merely one of people who sometimes “dip into” anti-Semitic language.

Asked about the matter during a recent Sky News interview, Corbyn gave a long sigh and rolled his eyes before saying, “People in politics do sometimes cross the line and confuse issues and can dip into anti-Semitic tropes and language.”

Since the far-left Corbyn, an intense critic of Israel, became party leader in 2015, Labour has been wracked by anti-Semitism scandals, including numerous suspensions of party members, mass resignations by MPs and several controversies surrounding Corbyn himself.

The furor came to a head earlier this month when the BBC program Panorama broadcast a lengthy expose on anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

The program detailed many of the upheavals that the party has faced, including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s false claim that Zionists collaborated with Hitler, for which he was only temporarily suspended; activist Jackie Walker’s claim that the Jews controlled the trans-Atlantic slave trade; and a general atmosphere of antisemitic attitudes toward Israel and its Jewish supporters.

In regard to Corbyn himself, the program cited, among other things, his defense of a blatantly anti-Semitic mural; his invitation to tea of Raed Salah, an anti-Semitic Israeli-Arab preacher who has engaged in the blood libel; his warm words about the terrorist group Hamas; and his claim that he saw the “hand of Israel” behind a jihadist attack on Egyptian soldiers.

The program also included the testimony of many Labour members, Jewish and non-Jewish, some of them near tears, describing an atmosphere of intense anti-Semitic racism in the party.

Watch Corbyn’s comments below (via Sky News):