Video: Corbyn gives pat on back to speaker who said Zionism made Jews ‘immoral’
Footage of a rally from 2008 has emerged showing the Labour leader give a pat on the back to a speaker after he told a crowd Zionism made Jews "immoral."
Footage of a rally from 2008 has emerged showing the Labour leader give a pat on the back to a speaker who told a crowd Zionism had made Jews “immoral.”
The video, taken during a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in 2008, was uncovered by the website The Red Roar.
It shows Jeremy Corbyn stood behind Ismail Patel, chair of the campaign Friends of Al-Aqsa, while he made the comments and give him a pat on the back as he exited the stage.
In the video, Patel can be heard telling the crowd: “We see the impact of Zionism on Palestinians, but it has had a devastating effect on the Jewish community itself: it has made them immoral in justice.”
“How can you have a community that can celebrate 60 years of dispossession? How can you have a community that celebrates the killings of innocent Palestinian people? This is what Zionism has done to Judaic faith,” he can be heard saying.
A placard marked “Stop the Holocaust in Gaza” can be spotted in the crowd 55 seconds into the video.
Moments later, Patel said the group Jews for Justice [for Palestinians] and the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta had “gone above Zionism and seen Zionism for what it is.”
A spokesperson for the Jewish Labour Movement said: “A real lifelong anti-racist would’ve said something to challenge those speakers spouting deeply antisemitic views. Instead he was a bystander – he watched and did nothing.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Jeremy Corbyn has a long and principled record of solidarity with the Palestinian people and engaging with actors in the conflict to support peace and justice, with a secure Israel alongside a secure and viable Palestinian state.
“Jeremy is a staunch opponent of all forms of antisemitism and is committed to tackling it, which is why he launched an education programme to deepen understanding in our movement of antisemitic tropes and narratives.”
Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry in Greenwich on Monday, Corbyn addressed criticism over his handling of the antisemitism row, saying he had spent his “whole life as somebody who hates racism in every form whatsoever.”
“Just as much as those people that attack synagogues, daub fascist graffiti over them, or attack Jewish people in this country, the USA or anywhere else, have no place whatsoever in a civilised society,” he told the audience.
The Labour Party has been approached for comment.
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