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| British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn (Jerusalem Post) |
The media has reported that Theresa May, the UK’s current prime minister is on shaky political ground. Her Conservative Party could easily lose the next election – giving rise to Corbyn as the next prime minister.
How antisemtic is he? There have been many examples of it in the media of late. Here is what a recent article in the Jerusalem Post said:
British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attended a conference in Qatar in 2012 alongside senior Hamas figures who were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, according to an exclusive report by the British daily The Telegraph published Sunday.
At the conference, Corbyn hosted a panel discussion which was attended by senior Hamas member Husam Badran, who was the leader of Hamas’s military wing in the northern West Bank and the orchestrator of some of the most deadly suicide bombings of the Second Intifada, for which he received a 17-year sentence.
Besides Badran, participants of the conference included former Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal and Abdul Aziz Omar, who was sentenced to seven life sentences for his involvement in preparing explosive belts.
Both Badran and Omar were released as part of the 2011 deal in which Gilad Shalit was swapped for 1,027 mainly Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners.
The conference in Qatar under the title “Seminar on Palestinian Refugees in the Arab World,” of which Corbyn was part, took place less than a year after the prisoner exchange.
Several days after the conference, Corbyn commented that he had listened to people released in the Shalit deal and that their contribution was “fascinating” and “electrifying.”
In an interview with Iranian television, he later confirmed specifically that he had met with Omar while at the conference.
The revelation of this incident comes as the latest of a series of controversies involving the British Labour leader.
Last week pictures emerged showing Corbyn alongside Tunisian terror chief Maher al-Taher at a 2014 wreath-laying ceremony for the terrorists who massacred 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Al-Taher is the leader-in-exile of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is classified as a terrorist organization in the US, Israel and the EU, and which claimed responsibility for the 2014 Har Nof synagogue massacre.
In another controversial photo of the event, Corbyn is seen close to the grave of terrorist Atef Bseiso, intelligence chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Bseiso, who was assassinated in Paris in 1992, was also linked to the Olympic massacre two decades earlier.
Only a week prior, the Labour leader made headlines when a video emerged of a speech he gave in 2013, in which he ostensibly compared Israel’s control of the West Bank to the Nazi occupation of Europe during World War II.
In addition, the Labour Party and Corbyn have been at the center of a protracted row over the party’s failure to address antisemitism within its ranks, and its recent decision to adopt an abridged version of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definitions, specifically omitting a clause that discourages comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
Had anyone told me even just a couple of years ago that England would have an antisemite at its helm any time soon, I would have said they were crazy. Not that England has been the stalwart supporter of Israel the US has been. Even under Obama. But they clearly did not evidence anywhere near the obvious hate for the Jewish State that Corbyn has had for years - and continues to have.
His protestations to the contrary are laughable – as he tries to spin his views as anything but antisemetic.
The Labour Party has always enjoyed the support of the Jewish community. I wonder though whether that support will still exist at the next election. My guess is that even Liberal Jews that are critical of Israel will see Corbyn for what he is. And that he will be rejected by them should an election be called.
But that doesn’t mean his party won’t come into power. And as a result Corbyn would become the next prime minister of the UK.
How is it possible, one might ask, in this day and age for England - an enlightened and progressive nation - to elect a man like that is into office? Are the English innately antisemitic? Well, I have my suspicions about that. As I do for all of Europe.
But even if they are not innately antisemitic - antisemitism is not on their political radar. The British want a change in leadership that will make their lives better. The majority of which may see Corbyn being the leader that will make that change. As he constantly promises to do. Besides, if his antisemitism ever comes up, British voters will probably just buy Corbyn’s denials and be satisfied with that.
And that’s the problem with England - and all of Europe. They may not be antisemitic. At least on the surface. But when it comes to their welfare they could not care less what their leader thinks about the Jews or Israel. As long as he gets the trains to run on time. That is all that matters.
Which is why I couldn’t care less if Europe sank into the ground. All of it! Because that is where the enemies of the Jewish people belong.
God bless America!
God bless America!