Jeremy Corbyn defends attending controversial ‘Jewdas’ Passover event
3 min read
Jeremy Corbyn has hit back at criticism over his attendance at an event organised by a controversial Jewish group.
The Labour leader was accused of “deliberately bating the mainstream Jewish community” after it was revealed that he took part in a Passover Seder with left-wing organisation, Jewdas.
The group has previously said accusations of anti-Semitism against Mr Corbyn were a smear and has also been highly critical of other Jewish organisations.
But Mr Corbyn today defended his attendance at the event in his constituency, saying: “It was very interesting talking to a lot of young people about their experiences in modern Britain and I learnt a lot, isn’t that a good thing?"
He added: “Anti-Semitism is a vile and evil thing within our society at any level, anywhere, any time and it has got to be eradicated…
“If it arises in my party then we have a process for dealing with it, we examine each case and if someone has committed any anti-Semitic act then they are suspended and ultimately could be expelled as a result of it and we are very, very clear about that.
“I am very, very clear – in the whole of our society we cannot accept anti-Semitism in any form, or indeed any other form of racism in our society.”
According to the Guido Fawkes website, guests at the event shouted "f*ck capitalism" and booed the name of mainstream Jewish groups.
Labour MPs were among those who condemned Mr Corbyn's decision to attend the Seder, with John Woodcock describing it as "deliberately baiting the mainstream Jewish community".
Momentum founder Jon Lansman leapt to Mr Corbyn’s defence, however, saying it was “galling to see non-Jewish Labour MPs weigh in and decide who is a good Jew and who isn't”.
Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, tweeted this morning that the incident had undermined Mr Corbyn’s “commitment to be an ally against antisemitism”.
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