Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was given the perfect opportunity to apologise to the Jewish community over his comments regarding Jews not understanding English irony. Instead, Corbyn refused to apologise, gave a broad statement on “racism” and pointed the finger at the Conservatives instead.
On Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May answered a question regarding anti-Semitism and levelled a challenge to Corbyn to apologise.
The Prime Minister said, “Jewish people living in this country should feel safe and secure and not have to worry about their futures in their own country.
“There is no place for racial hatred in our society and it’s important that we take every step to tackle it. That’s why as a government we were the first country in the world to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. We’ve been taking steps, providing funding to ensure security measures can be taken in Jewish faith schools and synagogues and we’ve provided funding to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to run events for Holocaust Memorial Day.”
Mrs May then challenged the Labour leader saying, “I believe that we should all be united in our determination to tackle anti-Semitism. So when the leader of the Labour party stands up, he should apologise for saying that Jewish people who have lived in this country their whole lives do not understand English irony.”
PMQs – Corbyn refuses to apologise over anti-Semitism, throws it back at Conservatives
THIS is why Labour has a problem with anti-Semitism.Corbyn could have apologised. He could have even given a "non-apology" by saying sorry if anyone was offended. He could have even shown his commitment to the Jewish community that Labour is tackling anti-Semitism. He did none of those thingsInstead, he avoids the question, gives a broad statement on racism without even mentioning the word anti-Semitism and points the finger instead at the Conservatives before changing the subject entirely.Corbyn is failing to deal with anti-Semitism.#AntiSemitism #ChristiansAgainstAntiSemitism #CUFI
Posted by Christians United for Israel – UK on Wednesday, 5 September 2018
Jeremy Corbyn responded to the Prime Minister saying, “There is no place for racism in any form within our society. On that we’re all agreed and we should tackle it wherever it arises in our own parties as well. And that includes the Conservative party.”
That was all Corbyn said on the issue before changing the subject.
There was no attempt to apologise for any hurt. There was no commitment on his behalf to tackle anti-Semitism within Labour. In fact, there was not even an admittance that Labour had a problem as he didn’t even mention the word anti-Semitism.
Corbyn once again proved he cannot properly handle this issue. This has given no reassurance to the Jewish community that things will change.
