UNDER-FIRE Jeremy Corbyn refused FOUR times to apologise for his failure to tackle anti-Semitism last night after he was slammed by the Chief Rabbi.
The Labour boss was ripped apart by BBC political rottweiler Andrew Neil for his woeful record on kicking Jew haters out of his party, after he launched his anti-racism manifesto earlier.
In the interview, which will be broadcast in full at 7pm tonight, he refused at least five times to say sorry.
He said: Can I just make it clear, racism in our society is a total poison, be it Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, or any other form of racism and I want to work with every community to make
sure it is eliminated.
That is what my whole life has been about.
The damning interview came as:
- Mr Corbyn said earlier today that anti-Semitism was vile and wrong, but astonishingly went on to appear to accuse the Chief Rabbi of failing to engage with Labour.
- And he sparked fresh controversy by being flanked on stage at the event by Claudia Webbe and Apsana Begum – election candidates embroiled in anti-Semitism rows.
- The hard-left boss also boasted that he had spent his entire life tackling racism in any form. He brazenly claimed that Labour had done more to crack down on racism under his leadership than before.
- Mr Corbyns election campaign was rocked today after Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said most British Jews are gripped by anxiety by the ideas of a Corbyn government.
In an unprecedented intervention in an election, he said voters must examine their consciences when deciding how to vote on December 12.
Mr Ephraim was subjected to vile online abuse after daring to speak out with one troll branding him a sewer rat.
Mr Corbyn desperately tried to fend off the onslaught of attacks on his failure to tackle anti-Semitism at today’s anti-racism manifesto launch.
But the event in Tottenham, north London, descended into farce as he was mobbed outside by Jewish protesters who furiously accused him of being a racist.
He was 50 minutes late to the stage and had to be bundled in via the back entrance amid the angry scenes.
But on stage he enraged his critics by failing to directly acknowledge the Chief Rabbis blistering criticism in his speech.
He said: I have to say, I just want to make this very clear – anti-Semitism in any form is vile and wrong.
It is an evil within our society, it is an evil that grew in Europe in the 1920s and onwards and ultimately led to the Holocaust.
There is no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism in any shape or form or in any place whatsoever in modern Britain, and under a Labour government it will not be tolerated in any form
whatsoever. I want to make that clear.
NO APOLOGY
Challenged directly on his record of tackling vile anti-Jew hate in his own party, he astonishingly failed to apologise.
He said: There is no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism in our society, our country or in my party and there never will be.
The party has adopted processes that didnt exist before, it has a disciplinary process that didnt exist before.
And, where people have committed anti-Semitic acts, they are brought to book and, if necessary, expelled from the party or suspended or asked to be educated better about it.
He added: I invite the Chief Rabbi, I invite the Archbishop of Canterbury, I invite all the other faith leaders to come, talk to us about what their concerns are.
But be absolutely clear of this assurance from me – no community will be at risk because of their identity, their faith, their ethnicity or their language.
But Mr Corbyn was hit by a fresh tidal wave of criticism about his record.
Crossbench peer and Rabbi Julia Neuberger blasted: A political party where some of its members leave because of anti-Semitic taunting, which still cannot deal with it, makes people feel
very uncomfortable.
While the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Hindu Council and Muslim Council of Britain all issued statements in support of the Chief Rabbi.
Labour peer Lord Falconer briefly Labours anti-Semitism adviser savaged Mr Corbyns failure and said there could be thousands of cases that need investigating.
He stormed: We deserved an attack that strong, we need to deal with anti-Semitism properly.
We are not dealing with the cases within the party.
‘ASHAMED OF MY PARTY’
Labour MP Wes Streeting said he is ashamed of my party.
He said: I am an anti-racist and one of the reasons I am standing for re-election is to fight racism within my party. I am more sorry than words can say.
Labour has been dogged by anti-Semitism ever since Mr Corbyn became leader.
Jewish politicians Luciana Berger and Dame Louise Ellman have been hounded out of the party by anti-Semitic bullying,
And the Equality and Human Rights Commission are investigating Labour over claims it is institutionally racist against Jews.
The BNP is the only other British party to have faced a similar investigation.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell – Mr Corbyns righthand man – accused the Chief Rabbi of misunderstanding labour.
He said the party are tackling anti-Semitism.
He added: I dont think he understood the nature of what weve been doing and how weve been dealing with it.
We would welcome a conversation to explain that to him.
