Jeremy Corbyn condemned for attending left-wing Jewish group meeting during anti-Semitism crisis

Jeremy Corbyn has defended his decision to meet with a left-wing Jewish group that has called for the destruction of Israel.

The Labour leader has come under fresh criticism after he spent Monday evening at a ritual feast hosted by Jewdas, a group which described Israel in December as a “steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of”.

It has also criticised mainstream Jewish organisations for their protests over alleged anti-Semitism in his party, describing them as ‘faux-outrage greased with hypocrisy and opportunism’.

Jonathan Goldstein, the chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) condemned Mr Corbyn for attending the meeting with the group, which last week accused the Jewish Board of Deputies, JLC and Jewish Labour Movement of ‘playing a dangerous game with people’s lives’.

Mr Goldstein told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Look, firstly, I think it’s important to say that every community is open to all strands of opinion, we have no issue with Jewdas and Jewdas having its opinions that it does, no community should have any problem with that.

‘What is surprising is that we’ve had silence from Mr Corbyn since we responded to him last Wednesday and he said in his statement on Monday that he was going to be a militant opponent of anti-Semitism and to always be our ally.

‘And he in his first act towards the Jewish community has gone to sit with a group who describe the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies’ actions as being a cynical ploy.

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‘And instead, really, he should have spent his time standing up for those Labour MPs who have been vilified within their own constituencies by members of their party for standing with us at a demonstration last Monday.’

Responding to the criticism, Mr Corbyn said the Seder feast was “very interesting” and involved “talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain”.

‘It was a Sedar event which is a celebration of Passover I celebrated it with a lot of young Jewish people from my constituency and my own community.

‘It was very interesting talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain – and isn’t that a good thing?’

He added that ‘anti-Semitism is a vile and evil thing’ and Labour had a process for dealing with it.

However, Labour MPs lined up to attack Mr Corbyn for attending the meeting, just one week after promising to be a ‘militant ally’ in the fight against anti-Semitism.

Labour backbencher John Woodcock said Mr Corbyn’s attendance at the meeting was ‘irresponsible and dangerous’, while Angela Smith said it ‘reads as a blatant dismissal of the case made for tackling anti-Semitism in Labour’.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism described Mr Corbyn’s attendance as ‘a very clear two fingered salute at mainstream British Jewry’.

Campaign chairman Gideon Falter said: ‘It is hard to imagine how this duplicitous man can claim to be remedying anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. The party must consider the message that is sent to British Jews and other minorities by him remaining as leader.’

However, Jewdas shrugged off the attack, tweeting: ‘Great that there’s so much interest in our work tonight! Please feel free to make a donation!’

Comedian David Baddiel, who has been at the forefront of the debate over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, also rejected suggestions that Jewdas was ‘despised’ by other members of the Jewish community.

He said: ‘They are just Jews who disagree with other Jews. Which means: Jews… To make out that it’s somehow anti-Semitic for him to spend Seder with them just because they’re far left is balls.’

Writer David Schneider added: ‘Boo! Corbyn needs to get out and meets some Jews!’ (Corbyn spends Passover with some Jews at Jewdas) ‘Boo! Not those Jews!’

Mr Corbyn’s attendance at the meeting came as Momentum, the group set up to back the Labour leader, issued a statement accepting that anti-Semitism was more widespread in Labour ranks than previously thought.

The movement’s National Co-ordinating Group said: ‘Accusations of anti-Semitism should not and cannot be dismissed simply as right-wing smears nor as the result of conspiracies.

‘Current examples of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party are not only a problem of a few, extreme ‘bad apples’ but also of unconscious bias which manifests itself in varied, nuanced and subtle ways and is more widespread in the Labour Party than many of us had understood even a few months ago.’

Momentum founder Jon Lansman said Mr Corbyn was having a ‘night off’, adding: ‘I think this group, unlike other groups you might describe as far-left, fringe, Jewish group, are orthodox, they’re embedded in their synagogues and communities. They are part of the community.’

Mr Corbyn last week admitted that there were ‘pockets’ of anti-Semitism within his party, and acknowledged that concerns about prejudice against Jewish people were ‘genuine’.

Speaking to Channel 4 News on Monday, Mr Corbyn added: ‘There is genuine concern and we are dealing with that concern… We are not tolerating anti-Semitism in any form in the Labour Party.’