Israeli Labour MP Condemns Jeremy Corbyn For "Skirting Round" Antisemitism At Friends Of Israel Meeting

“He should have condemned antisemitism in the party, he has not done enough."
OLI SCARFF via Getty Images

Michal Biran criticised Jeremy Corbyn for failing to admit to Labour antisemitism at a Friends Of Israel meeting last night.

“He should have condemned antisemitism in the party, he has not done enough. He skirted round it”, the Israeli Labour party MP told HuffPostUK.

During the meeting Corbyn denounced antisemitism “in society” and said he “did not intend to allow” the Labour Party to be a home for it.

But Biran said he should have fully acknowledged antisemitism that already exists in the party.

In the wake of antisemitic remarks made by Momentum vice chair Jackie Walker on Monday, Biran also said Corbyn should not have allowed her into the party, after she was expelled in May.

“A person saying something like that should not be a member of UK Labour”, she told HuffPostUK.

Michal Biran
Michal Biran
Michal Biran

During the meeting at Labour’s Liverpool conference, Corbyn said antisemitism had “reared its ugly head in various places”, and talked of the struggles of Labour’s founders against prejudice.

“I want to say a big thank you to many of those in this room who have come to talk to me and others in my team about the antisemitism that does exist within society. That has reared its violent ugly head in various places”, he said.

“And helped to advise and inform us about how we deal with antisemitism. I say this, the Labour Party is not a home for antisemitism in any form, I do not intend to allow it to be.

“The Labour Party must be specifically, an antiracist party, and specifically, opposed to any form of antisemitism, anywhere in our movement. There is no place.

“I recognise the enormous contribution by those who helped found this party, who even at that time suffered antisemitism just as those who struggled against fascism.

During her speech, Biran spoke out against “those who call themselves friends of Hamas”, and said more should be done to fight antisemitism in Labour.

“Turn your back on men of violence, Hamas are not friends. They are not freedom fighters, they do not have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart.

“They are part of the problem, not the solution. Please Jeremy, do not give Hamas and Hezbollah legitimacy”, she said.

“How can my sister party, a progressive party, allow itself to be a home for any antisemites?”, she said.

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