Emily Thornberry Apologises To Israeli Ambassador After Jeremy Corbyn Accused Of Comparing Israel To Isis

Emily Thornberry Apologises To Israeli Ambassador After Jeremy Corbyn Accused Of Comparing Israel To Isis
Yui Mok/PA Wire

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has apologised to the Israeli ambassador after Jeremy Corbyn was accused of comparing Israel to Isis.

Yesterday, the Labour leader told an anti-Semitism event "our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu Government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-styled Islamic states or organisations".

Thornberry phoned Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador in London, to apologise for any offence caused, The Huffington Post UK has been told.

Regev was sent the speech after it was delivered but before he talked to Thornberry.

According to the BBC, Regev had "no issue" with Corbyn's comment and did not believe the Labour leader had been comparing Israel to Isis.

However the spokesperson of the Embassy of Israel in London tweeted this morning.

Yesterday Corbyn was told by a Jewish MP he should resign because Labour is not a "safe space for British Jews" with him as leader.

Ruth Smeeth MP left the Labour anti-Semitism event after being accused by a Momentum activist Marc Wadsworth of working “hand-in-hand” with the media to damage Corbyn.

The scene unfolded as a Momentum activist at the anti-Semitism event defended not giving a copy of a press release which attacked “troublemaking careerist Labour MPs”.

“I saw the Telegraph handed a copy of a press release to Ruth Smeeth MP, you can see who is working hand-in-hand,” he said.

The comment was met with heckles in the room and shouts of “how dare you”. Smeeth left the room.

Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Corbyn had moments earlier said there was no place for the suggestion Jewish people were part of any “media conspiracy”.

The Stoke-on-Trent North MP said in a statement Corbyn had “stood by” and done “absolutely nothing” as she was subjected to “anti-Semitic slurs”.

“People like this have no place in our party or our movement and must be opposed. Until today I had made no public comment about Jeremy’s ability to lead our party, but the fact that he failed to intervene is final proof for me that he is unfit to lead, and that a Labour Party under his stewardship cannot be a safe space for British Jews,” she said.

“No-one from the Leader’s office has contacted me since the event, which is itself a catastrophic failure of leadership. I call on Jeremy Corbyn to resign immediately and make way for someone with the backbone to confront racism and antisemitism in our party and in the country.”

This morning LBC reported Wadsworth has been expelled from the Labour Party.

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