US Democrat in hot water over call with ‘anti-Semitic’ Jeremy Corbyn

US Democratic Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez took fire for a Sunday night call with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, known to have anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views.

By David Isaac, World Israel News Staff

Democratic Freshman congresswoman  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) found herself criticized on social media Sunday night after it was discovered that she had spoken with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is steeped in controversy and has been accused of rank anti-Semitism by the likes of former U.K. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

On Sunday, Corbyn tweeted: “Great to speak to @AOC on the phone this evening and hear first hand how she’s challenging the status quo.” Corbyn, who shares Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist worldview, also tweeted: “Let’s build a movement across borders to take on the billionaires, polluters and migrant baiters, and support a happier, freer and cleaner planet.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded, “Also honored to share a great hope in the peace, prosperity, + justice that everyday people can create when we uplift one another across class, race, + identity both at home & abroad.”

The Corbyn conversation comes off another controversy involving Ocasio-Cortez when on a July 15 episode of PBS’s “Firing Line” she referred to Israeli control of Judea and Samaria as the “occupation of Palestine.” In an interview last week, she incorrectly said that the conversation was “doctored” by political opponents.

Her talk with Corbyn sparked a sharp reaction from some on Twitter, including American Enterprise Scholar Christina Sommers who tweeted:  “Dear Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Corbyn is anti-Semitic. You do not want to do to the Democratic Party what @lsarsour & @TamikaDMallory did to the #WomensMarch.”

Sommers was referring to Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory, leaders of the Women’s March who have also become embroiled in charges of anti-Semitism and bigotry over questionable comments and their support for Louis Farrakhan.

Nearly 40 percent of British Jews would “seriously consider emigrating” if Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn became prime minister, and 85.9 percent consider him an anti-Semite, according to a September poll published by London-based The Jewish Chronicle.

Corbyn has been caught in a series of high-profile antisemitism scandals, including laying a wreath at a memorial that included prominent terrorists and the leak of a video in which he said that “Zionists” did not understand “English irony” despite “having lived in this country for a very long time.”