A senior adviser to former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is quoted in a newly published book that Corbyn had trouble empathizing with Jews over anti-Semitism because Jews are “relatively prosperous.”
The Times reported the book “Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn” quotes Corbyn senior adviser Andrew Murray as saying that Corbyn is “empathetic with the poor, the disadvantaged, the migrant, the marginalized … . Happily, that is not the case with the Jewish community in Britain today.”
Murray added that Corbyn would have had empathy for Jews during the Holocaust, but “the Jewish community today is relatively prosperous.”
https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1297798677457768448?s=20
Financial Times reporter Sebastian Payne tweeted that a couple of Labour Party Members of Parliament are livid over Murray’s reported comments and think he should be suspended from the party.
https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1297810268949483520?s=20
Labour Against Anti-Semitism spokesperson Euan Phillips said in a statement that Murray’s reported comments “highlight further the institutional nature of the anti-Jewish racism in the Labour Party. Mr. Murray’s use of a familiar anti-Jewish trope that portrays Jews as wealthy, to defend Mr. Corbyn, is in our opinion anti-Semitic under the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition.”
Phillips also called for Murray to be suspended from the party and investigated over his reported remarks.
“While people with the apparent views of Mr. Murray and Mr. Corbyn remain in the Labour Party it cannot be considered a safe environment for Jewish members,” he added. “Their continued presence is a serious obstacle to [Labour Party leader] Keir Starmer’s desire to move on from the party’s anti-Semitism crisis, which is why he must move quickly and act decisively.”
LAAS Statement – Murray & Corbyn are a "serious obstacle" to Keir Starmer on antisemitism:
“While people with the apparent views of Mr Murray & Mr Corbyn remain in the Labour Party it cannot be considered a safe environment for Jewish members.”#LabourAntisemitism@Keir_Starmer pic.twitter.com/kRkgg885PH— LAAS (@LabourAgainstAS) August 24, 2020
Tablet senior writer Yair Rosenberg tweeted, “Think of how many Jews were attacked and gaslit for years for pointing out that Corbyn didn’t understand or take anti-Semitism seriously, only to now see his chief aide just say it out loud. There will be no apology, though, because those gaslighters never cared about Jews.”
He added in a subsequent tweet: “To anti-Semites, we Jews are either evil overlords plundering the gentiles or we’re indolent parasites leeching off non-Jewish resources. Somehow, we are never just normal people like everyone else.”
Think of how many Jews were attacked and gaslit for years for pointing out that Corbyn didn't understand or take anti-Semitism seriously, only to now see his chief aide just say it out loud. There will be no apology, though, because those gaslighters never cared about Jews. https://t.co/J7D5a7rz0e
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) August 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1297967683686797312?s=20
The Jewish Chronicle reported that the “Left Out” book, authored by British journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire, also states Corbyn’s chief of staff Kate Murphy had provided a series of suggestions for Corbyn to smooth over allegations of anti-Semitism, including visiting Auschwitz, conducting an interview with the Israeli outlet Haaretz and outreach to Jewish progressives. The only suggestion Corbyn implemented was amending the Labour Party’s code of conduct to condemn all “forms of prejudice.” Corbyn also was against the party adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism because he thought doing so would “police legitimate criticism of the Israeli state’s conduct in Palestine.”
Several members of the Labour Party left the party in 2019; most of them said it was because Corbyn enabled anti-Semitism within the party. Corbyn stepped down as leader of the Labour Party following his loss to current Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the December election.
