Jeremy Corbyn vows to ‘eradicate’ anti-Semitism from Labour’s ranks as he pleads with Jews to ‘draw a line’ under the toxic storm – but he STILL hasn’t apologised
- Corbyn addressed the anti-Semitism storm engulfing his party in major speech
- Speaking to delegates in Liverpool he said he hoped to ‘draw a line’ under row
- Jewish groups demanded an apology from Corbyn for his and Labour’s actions
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Jeremy Corbyn today vowed to ‘eradicate’ anti-Semitism from Labour’s ranks and the wider country in a new plea to the Jewish community.
The Labour leader stopped short of making a full apology to the Jewish community as has been demanded but said he hoped to ‘draw a line’ under the toxic row.
He insisted in his Liverpool speech fighting racism was ‘part of who I am’.
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at Labour conference today’ vowed to ‘eradicate’ anti-Semitism from Labour’s ranks and the wider country in a new plea to the Jewish community.
The Labour leader stopped short of making a full apology to the Jewish community as has been demanded but said he hoped to ‘draw a line’ under the toxic row
Recalling a visit to the Terezin concentration camp, Mr Corbyn said: ‘The row over anti-Semitism has caused immense hurt and anxiety in the Jewish community and great dismay in the Labour Party.
‘But I hope we can work together to draw a line under it.’
He added: ‘We will work with Jewish communities to eradicate antisemitism, both from our party and wider society.
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‘And with your help I will fight for that with every breath I possess.
‘Anti-racism is integral to our very being. It’s part of who you all are, and it’s part of who I am.’
Mr Corbyn lashed Theresa May’s Tories for refusing to act against the hard-right government in Hungary.
He said: ‘We won’t accept it when we’re attacked by Tory hypocrites who accuse us of anti-Semitism one day, then endorse Viktor Orban’s hard right government the next.
‘Or when they say we are racist, while they work to create a hostile environment for all migrant communities.’
Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger has been accompanied by uniformed police throughout the party conference after enduring a storm of abuse of anti-Semitism
Mr Corbyn repeated his promise to recognise a Palestinian state and told delegates it must be part of a two state solution alongside a ‘secure Israel’.
Deputy leader Tom Watson last night warned there was a ‘moral obligation’ to act on anti-Semitism in the party at the Labour Friends of Israel’s conference gathering.
Labour has a ‘moral obligation’ to tackle anti-Semitism in its ranks, Tom Watson (pictured last night at the Labour Friends of Israel meeting) has warned leader Jeremy Corbyn
Speaking to loud applause at a meeting of the Labour Friends of Israel, Mr Watson hailed the work of MPs Joan Ryan, Ian Austin and Luciana Berger, all of whom have been the targets of abuse and criticism for their efforts to expose anti-Semitism.
The meeting was also attended by shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who earlier told the conference that anti-Semites must be kicked out of the party. Leader Jeremy Corbyn was not present.
Mr Watson said that LFI chair Ms Ryan, who lost a no confidence vote in her Enfield North constituency, had been ‘hounded by people who have only just joined the Labour Party’.
And he told the meeting: ‘We have a moral obligation to rid this party of anti-Semitism.
‘I recognise the hurt that has been caused, I recognise the pain that has been thrust upon our friends in the Jewish community. I know how failing to tackle the problem risks bringing eternal shame.
‘I just hope we can do what we can to rebuild that trust and confidence.’
Timeline of anti-Semitic scandals which have erupted under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) has been accused of failing to tackle the racism among his supporters
The anti-Semitism scandal has dogged Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.
Here is a timeline of the controversies:
April 2016:
Labour MP Naz Shah is suspended for anti-Semitic posts – including one in which she appeared to endorse calls for Israelis to be deported to the US.
She apologised and was given a formal warning.
Ken Livingstone goes on the radio to defend Ms Shah – but sparks fresh controversy by claiming that Hitler supported Zionism.
He is suspended by Labour but refuses to apologise and has repeated the claim many times.
He eventually quits Labour two years later, saying his suspension has become a distraction.
June 2016:
A two-month inquiry by civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti finds that Labour is not overrun by anti-Semitism.
But the launch is overshadowed when Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth flees it in tears after being accused by Corbyn supporter Marc Wadsworth of colluding with the press.
Critics accuse the report of being a whitewash and Ms Chakrabarti is widely criticised for accepting a peerage from Jeremy Corbyn shortly afterwards.
October 2016:
The Home Affairs Select Committee says Labour is guilty of incompetence over its handling of anti-Semitism and of creating a safe space for people with ‘vile attitudes towards Jewish people’.
March 2018:
It is revealed that Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural and said the offensive art should be removed.
He apologises saying he did not properly look at the picture before he made the post.
Jewish leaders take the unprecedented step of holding a demonstration outside Parliament protesting Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism.
Several Labour MPs address the crowds.
April 2018:
Marc Wadsworth is expelled from Labour after being accused of anti-Semitism.
Meanwhile, Labour Jewish MPs tell of the anti-Semitic abuse they have suffered in a powerful parliamentary debate – and round on their leader for failing to tackle it.
July 2018:
The Labour leadership sparks fresh anger by failing to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism
Peter Willsman, a strong ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is secretly taped ranting that Jewish ‘Trump fanatics’ invented the anti-Semitism storm engulfing Labour.
In an angry diatribe at a meeting of Labour’s ruling executive committee, he said he was ‘amazed’ there was evidence party members hated Jews.
He claimed ‘some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump – they are Trump fanatics’ before shouting: ‘So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.’
August 2018:
Jeremy Corbyn issues a video insisting he is committed to tackling the racism – but it is panned by Jewish leaders.
Corbynistas mount a social media campaign to get deputy Labour leader Tom Watson to quit after he criticises the party’s handling of anti-Semitism.
The Daily Mail exclusively publishes photos of Jeremy Corbyn holding a wreath at a ceremony where a terrorist linked to the Munich massacre was honoured.
The Labour leader insists he was there to honour others killed – but faces fresh calls to quit over the scandal.
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