UK Labor leader Corbyn holds first meeting with Jewish leaders
Opposition chief, who has referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as friends, said to back Israel’s right to secure, recognized boundaries
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, met Tuesday with leaders of the UK Jewish community for the first time since winning the post in September.
“The meeting has resulted in significant clarifications of the views of the Leader of the Opposition on key issues for the Jewish community,” said the Board of Deputies of British Jews in statement Tuesday.
Frequently accused of an anti-Israel bias, Corbyn and two of his senior advisers met with BoD President Jonathan Arkush and Chief Executive Gillian Merron “on a range of matters of interest and concern to the UK Jewish community,” the Jewish umbrella group said.
“We had a positive and constructive meeting and were pleased that Mr. Corbyn gave a very solid commitment to the right of Israel to live within secure and recognized boundaries as part of a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict,” Arkush said, according to the statement.
He added that there had been welcome agreement in some key policy areas, but that “there were still matters on which the Labour leader could make firmer commitments.”
The Jewish leader described Tuesday’s discussion as “the beginning of a conversation between the Jewish community and the Labour Party,” and said another meeting would be held later this year.
Corbyn has been criticized by members of the UK Jewish community for being sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah — terror groups committed to destroying Israel — and is widely regarded as one of the British MPs most hostile to Israel.
He has publicly endorsed a blanket arms embargo on Israel and the boycott of Israeli universities involved in weapons research. He recently landed in hot water when he defended an Anglican minister who posted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online.
“He should do more to address profound and real concerns about past meetings with people or organisations with extremist or anti-Semitic views,” Arkush added. “We are also looking for the Labour leadership to show with more clarity that it will maintain its longstanding opposition of boycotts against Israel.”
In September the Board of Deputies congratulated Corbyn on his election as Labour leader, saying it hoped to meet with him to address concerns about some of his positions.
Shortly after his election, Corbyn was heckled for avoiding the word “Israel” as he addressed Labour Friends of Israel event.
At the end of the speech, which focused on renewing dialogue and advocating a return to the peace process but avoided direct reference to Israel, a man at the back of the room interrupted the gathering shouting, “Say the word Israel. Say the word Israel.”
Arkush said in December that a meeting with the newly elected opposition leader would be “an acid test of how relations will be between the Labour Party and the Jewish community. He knows it, and I know it,” the Jewish Chronicle reported.
Corbyn seven years ago offered to host representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah in the British Parliament. He subsequently said he had used the word “friends” in a “collective way” to describe the extremist Islamist organizations during a 2009 speech, but did not endorse their views. “I welcomed our friends from Hezbollah to have a discussion and a debate, and I said I wanted Hamas to be part of that debate. I have met Hamas in Lebanon and I’ve met Hezbollah in this country and Lebanon,” he said.
