Jeremy Corbyn says ‘anti-Semitic’ claims are ‘beyond appalling’

Prominent anti-Israel activists in the UK are slamming the Jewish Chronicle newspaper for its coverage of links between Labour party primary candidate Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitic individuals and groups.

That they shared a platform was “beyond any doubt and is documented and resulted in my ban to enter the UK”.

The revelation comes hours after Corbyn first denied knowing Dyab Abou Jahjah, then was forced to admit associating with Lebanese extremist.

He added: “I want someone who can actually address the world of tomorrow, rather than taking us back to old Labour or for that matter New Labour in the 90s because we’re addressing an entirely different world”.

JEREMY Corbyn is now the front runner in the race for the leadership of the Labour Party.

“As an MP I have met thousands of people over the years. because I meet them, it does not mean I share their views or endorse their views”.

Responding on Twitter to Corbyn’s claim not to know him, Abou Jahjah said: “Whatever reasons made Mr Corbyn say this are for him to know and for us to guess”.

“As for rejoicing the death of British occupation soldiers in Iraq, this is a misrepresentation of a position that I still uphold until this day”, he wrote. If Corbyn wins control of the second largest party in the British parliament, he has signalled he would return the party to its socialist roots, a dramatic shift away from the centre ground which Blair sought to stake out for Labour in the 1990s.

He said: “The idea that I’m some kind of racist or anti-Semitic person is beyond appalling, disgusting and deeply offensive”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I want someone who can be radical, can have a very clear vision of where Britain will be in five years’ time and above all can actually do something about winning”.

When asked why he had called Palestinian militant group Hamas “friends” during a Parliament meeting, he said he had been using “diplomatic language” and that the comment had been taken “seriously out of context”. And I am catching a tiny bit of that stench right now.

He added that “dialogue is essential if we are to bring about a long-term peace process” in the Middle East. “I think we have to have a discussion that includes Hamas…”

But as he denied meeting Mr Jahjah in a lunchtime interview, a furious Mr Corbyn insisted he had spent his life fighting all forms of racism and said suggestions he was anti-Semitic were “beyond appalling”.

Explaining his 2009 meeting in London, Jahjah said their relationship had always been “based upon a common belief in dialogue, justice and equality of all people”.