Katy Balls Katy Balls

Labour’s dirty laundry aired as Jeremy Corbyn speaks at anti-Semitism select committee

Last week Labour’s own inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party descended into chaos after Jeremy Corbyn managed to spark a new anti-Semitism row at the press conference. Discussing the findings of Shami Chakrabarti’s report, Corbyn appeared to compare Israel to Isis.

So, Corbyn faced a tough ride today as he appeared before the Home Affairs select committee on anti-Semitism. The committee — chaired by Keith Vaz — began by asking Corbyn to clarify his comments on Israel:

KV: Would you like to take this opportunity to clear this up? That you didn’t mean to compare a democratically elected government — no matter that it holds a different view to yours — with the criminals who run Daesh/Isil?

JC: At no stage did I make that comparison, and I’m disappointed that that comparison was made by the Chief Rabbi or anyone else. It would have been better if I’d said Islamic countries rather than Islamic states.

Despite Corbyn specifically referring to ‘self-styled Islamic states or organisations’ in his comments last week, the Labour leader was keen to push the idea that the blame laid with those who had misinterpreted his comments. This was a recurring theme of the session, as Corbyn went on to hit out at the media — once again — for proving unhelpful in their reporting of anti-Semitic incidents.

While Corbyn did concede that he regretted describing Hezbollah and Hamas as his friends, he gave less ground when it came to other acquaintances. Corbyn declared that Jackie Walker — the Momentum activist who declared Jews to be the ‘chief financiers of the slave trade’ — still had a ‘positive contribution’ to make to Labour. Meanwhile when Nusrat Ghani asked whether it was wise to promote Paul Flynn — who has criticised the Israeli ambassador to Britain for having ‘Jewish loyalty’ — to Shadow Welsh Secretary, Corbyn offered a passionate defence of his comrade.

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