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Corbyn says Labour is “an ally” to the Jewish community
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told his party conference yesterday that the next Labour Government will be an “ally” to the Jewish community.
Referring to what he described as “the row over antisemitism” that has caused “immense hurt and anxiety in the Jewish community and great dismay in the Labour Party,” Corbyn said that he will work with the Jewish community to eradicate antisemitism from both “our party and wider society”.
He said that he will not accept charges of antisemitism levelled against his leadership by Tory “hypocrites” who “endorse Viktor Orban’s hard right government” and work to create a “hostile environment for all migrant communities”. Corbyn referred to the “ongoing denial of justice and rights to the Palestinian people” in his speech and said: “The continuing occupation, the expansion of illegal settlements and the imprisonment of Palestinian children are an outrage.” He said 25 years of the Oslo era has brought the sides “no closer to justice or peace and the Palestinian tragedy continues, while the outside world stands by”. He vowed that the next Labour Government will recognise a Palestinian state as soon as elected in “order to help make that two-state settlement a reality,” resulting in a standing ovation from the conference hall. Focusing on Israel specifically, he said the Labour Party is united in condemning the shooting of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza by Israeli forces and the passing of the Nation-State Law.
The Labour leader also pledged to make a “more determined effort” to bring an end to the war in Syria. In contrast to his words about Israel, he did not mention the Bashar Assad regime or its actions and said the Syrian civil war has been “fuelled by the military intervention of multiple powers … and it will need those same powers to deliver a negotiated peace settlement to end the killing and allow the return of the refugees”.
Corbyn quoted in his speech from 19th century poet Ernest Jones, who was described by biographer Mike Taylor as an antisemite and racist bigot.