Former UK chief rabbi warns of ‘existential threat’ to British Jews

Britain’s former chief rabbi has warned that Jewish people are thinking about leaving the country because of anti-Semitism.

Jonathan Sacks tells the BBC that for the first time in the 362 years Jews have been in Britain many question whether it is safe to raise children here.

He singles out Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for failing to address anti-Semitic attitudes in the main opposition party, saying Corbyn would pose a danger as prime minister unless he expresses “clear remorse” for past statements.

Former Chief Rabbi @rabbisacks says @jeremycorbyn “is as great a danger as Enoch Powell was then” #marr pic.twitter.com/9S8z5embkJ

— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) September 2, 2018

Sacks says “when people hear the kind of language that has been coming out of Labour, that’s been brought to the surface among Jeremy Corbyn’s earlier speeches, they cannot but feel an existential threat.”

Last week, Sacks branded Corbyn a dangerous anti-Semite, and accused him of giving “support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate, who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.” The Labour leader, Sacks said, uses “the language of classic prewar European anti-Semitism.”

Asked this morning if his criticism of Corbyn went too far, Sacks says “absolutely not.”

“I had to issue a warning, anti-Semitism has returned to mainland Europe within living memory of the Holocaust,” he says.

“Anyone who uses the term ‘Zionist’ loosely and without great care is in danger of engulfing Britain in the kind of flames of hatred that has reappeared throughout Europe,” Sacks says.

— with AP