Jeremy Corbyn, current Leader of the British Labour Party, has been less than enthusiastic about rejecting anti-Semitic acts and rhetoric both from within his own party and those from the general public. Critics accuse of saying one thing and doing another.
A spate of anti-Semitic scandals is forcing the U.K. to reassess the history of one of its largest political parties.
For most of the 20th century, most British Jews voted for the Labour Party. It seemed like a natural fit. This was a party that championed religious minorities, emphasized workers’ rights, and condemned anti-Semitism—all stances that appealed to a Jewish population that grew along with immigration from Europe. Yet now, a spate of anti-Semitic scandals is plaguing the left-wing party, and many British Jews are fed up with its leadership’s perceived failure to address the problem.
Frustration over the Labour Party’s handling of anti-Semitism within its own ranks dates back years, but reached a boiling point this week following two back-to-back scandals, one of which implicated the party’s own leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Last week, a Facebook comment Corbyn made in 2012 resurfaced, in which he defended a mural that was removed from London’s East End for its use of anti-Semitic tropes. By the artist’s own admission, the mural depicts a group of Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the working class. Corbyn issued a statement Sunday apologizing for his comment, adding that he should have “studied the content of the mural more closely.”
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