“The overwhelming reaction of our members to this election result is one of relief,” says Labour Against Antisemitism spokesman.
By World Israel News Staff
British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has stepped down after suffering a crushing defeat at the polls on Thursday.
With 648 of the 650 results declared on Friday, the Conservatives had 363 seats and the main opposition Labour Party 203. Just a day ahead of the election, it appeared that Labour and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party were running a tight race.
The possibility of a Corbyn victory had been worrying Britain’s Jews. Corbyn, considered an anti-Semite, has praised the Islamic terror group Hamas, calling them his “friends,” and has often slammed Israel for alleged human rights abuses.
Anti-Semitism has run rampant in the Labour party since he took over the leadership.
In the run-up to the election, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned in an op-ed of the threat to the Jewish community posed by Corbyn and the Labour party. Corbyn dismissed Rabbi Mirvis’ concerns in a widely viewed television interview that followed, refusing to apologize and claiming that the chief rabbi was wrong.
Days before the election, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released its annual list of the top 10 global anti-Semitic incidents, along with anti-Semitic people, and the number one spot was given to the Jeremy Corbyn-led British Labour Party. “No one has done more to mainstream anti-Semitism into the political and social life of a democracy than the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party,” the Center said in a statement.
“The British public have delivered a damning verdict on Jeremy Corbyn and his institutionally racist Labour Party. Labour Against Antisemitism stated at the beginning of the election that neither Corbyn or hiparty were fit for government, and the public have agreed,” Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Antisemitism, stated upon release of the election results.
“The overwhelming reaction of our members to this election result is one of relief, he continued. “Underlying that emotion, however, runs anger that the British Jewish community has been brought close to serious threat by the complete failure of the Labour movement to deal with the poison of anti-Semitism.
“The next leader must be prepared to take all necessary measures to deal with Corbyn’s legacy of anti-Jewish hatred, including cooperating fully with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission investigation. Failure to do so will only lead to further electoral catastrophe for the Labour Party,” Philipps said.