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Jewish Groups to Protest Jeremy Corbyn, U.K. Labour Party Over Anti-Semitism

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party leader / Getty
Jeremy Corbyn / Getty
March 26, 2018

Jewish groups in the United Kingdom plan on protesting the U.K. Labour Party and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, over anti-Semitism in the party.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council released a joint open letter, titled "Enough is Enough," on Sunday. Members of the two groups plan to march on Parliament Square on Monday where they will deliver the letter, which criticizes Corbyn's behavior, to the the Parliamentary Labour Party, Bloomberg reports.

"Jeremy Corbyn did not invent this form of politics, but he has had a lifetime within it and now personifies its problems and dangers," the two groups wrote. "He issues empty statements about opposing antisemitism but does nothing to understand or address it."

Corbyn released a statement on his Facebook page where he acknowledged that some anti-Semitism existed within the party.

"We recognize that antisemitism has occurred in pockets within the Labour Party, causing pain and hurt to our Jewish community in the Labour Party and the rest of the country," Corbyn wrote. "I will not tolerate any form of antisemitism that exists in and around our movement. We must stamp this out from our party and movement."

The Jewish groups' letter was released after what was seen to be Corbyn's most recent transgression.  The party leader defended an artist who painted a mural in London which featured "Jews playing Monopoly on the backs of naked people." Moreover, Corbyn and other party members have been criticized for anti-Semitic behavior before, Bloomberg notes.

The spat about the mural is the latest in a series of incidents within the party that’s raised the hackles of British Jews. Earlier in March, Corbyn said that he had been a member of a Facebook group where antisemitic views were expressed -- but that he had never seen them. And in 2016, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from the party after describing Adolf Hitler as a supporter of zionism.

An internal review in 2016 found anti-Semitism wasn’t endemic to the party. Shortly afterward, Corbyn appointed Shami Chakrabarti, who conducted the investigation, to become a lawmaker in the House of Lords and a member of his team of ministers-in-waiting.

The rally is scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m., half an hour before the party has a scheduled meeting.

Published under: Anti-Semitism