Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon warned Parliament that Corbyn “embrac[es] his terrorist friends and encourag[es] the activities of BDS.”
By: JNS.org and World Israel News Staff
In his address to British lawmakers, Danon said that opposition and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is “an anti-Semite who wants to return Britain to darker periods in its history.”
The ambassador added that “in his actions and statements, Corbyn gives oxygen to incidents of racism by embracing his terrorist friends and encouraging the activities of BDS. Israel stands by the Jewish community in England.”
Corbyn, whose Labour Party’s popularity in the United Kingdom has surged in recent months amid the ongoing uncertainty regarding Brexit, has come under intense criticism for a number of scandals involving anti-Semitism and support for Palestinian terrorist organizations. Anti-Semitism watchdog groups have called on Corbyn to resign.
The Labour leader also vowed recently to recognize Palestinian statehood if his party were to win in the next general election.
Danon’s position reflects the feelings of the overwhelming majority of U.K. Jews, according to a recent poll conducted by The Jewish Chronicle, which revealed that 85.9% of British Jews believe Corbyn is an anti-Semite.
In addition, British Jews expressed an abysmally low opinion of the Labour Party in general, with 85.6% of those surveyed believing Labour suffers from “very high” levels of anti-Semitism.
Corbyn’s high-profile anti-Semitism scandal includes incidents such as his participation in a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the terrorists who committed the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes.
Other incidents include a video in which Corbyn says “Zionists” do not understand “English irony” despite “having lived in this country for a very long time.
Former U.K. Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks blasted Corbyn recently and lamented the Labour party’s approach to anti-Semitism.