EXCLUSIVE – In January 2012 @JeremyCorbyn gave an interview in Parliament to an antisemitic conspiracy theorist in which he agreed that “yes of course” Israel may engage in “creating a false flag event” to start a war with Iran. Watch below: pic.twitter.com/8ZLeBtBMnV

— The Golem (@TheGolem_) January 31, 2019

New footage has been unearthed of Jeremy Corbyn in 2012 saying that “yes of course” Israel may engage in “creating a false flag event” to start a war with Iran. What makes Corbyn’s answer worse is that this theory was presented to him as something that is going around “conspiracy channels on the internet”. But Corbyn says they’re quite right…

Prior to interviewing Corbyn, the interviewer had produced a number of videos on YouTube with titles ranging from “On The Need to Dissolve the Jewish Identity”, “Will the Jews get the reputation of the Nazis?”, “9/11 – No Thermite, 7/7 – No Rucksack Bombs”, and “Judaism, Just Another Cult?”. Did Corbyn not take the incredibly basic step of checking who was interviewing him, or did he just not care?

It comes ahead of a debate of Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday on a motion entitled ‘Action on Antisemitism’, which would compel the party leadership to “provide a report in one weeks’ time” answering a list of questions regarding what the leadership has done to combat anti-Semitism in their party. Yet another incident for Corbyn to explain…

Read the motion in full here:

Motion: Action on Antisemitism
Proposer: Catherine McKinnell
Seconder: Ruth Smeeth

The PLP notes that 10 months ago the British Jewish community took to Parliament Square for the Enough is Enough demonstration to demand the Labour Party take action against antisemitism; in response the PLP notes that the Leader of the Labour Party apologised for the “hurt and pain” caused by instances of antisemitism in the Labour Party and pledged to “redouble my efforts to bring this anxiety to an end”; the PLP acknowledges that on her appointment, the new General Secretary to the Labour Party vowed to introduce procedures to deal with complaints and disciplinary cases and said the “stain” of antisemitic attitudes must be “completely eradicated” within the party.

In the months that have followed the PLP is dismayed that there remains such a backlog of antisemitism cases that are still to be investigated and a decision reached – in particular the high-profile cases that it was promised would be concluded by July 2018. The PLP is very concerned by recent reports that a number of cases of alleged antisemitic activity from high-profile members have been dropped. The PLP calls on the Party leadership to adequately tackle cases of antisemitism, as a failure to do so seriously risks antisemitism in the Party appearing normalised and the Party seeming to be institutionally antisemitic.

The PLP calls on the party Leadership to provide a report to the PLP meeting in one weeks’ time detailing:

1. how many outstanding cases of antisemitism the Labour Party need to a) investigate b) consider at the NEC disputes panel c) prepare charge sheets to submit to the NCC d) await a NCC hearing;

2. How many complaints about antisemitism have been received and on how many occasions have NEC officers/the General Secretary used delegated powers to take no further action about these complaints;

3. How many FTE staff (not on any kind of long term leave) in GLU a) handle complaints and complainants b) investigate complaints c) process cases through disputes and NCC;

4. How much has been spent on external legal counsel on behalf of the NEC pursuing disciplinary cases against members;

5. Which Jewish community organisations have been consulted on the still un-reviewed antisemitism Code of Practice and what is the timetable for when this is set to be complete;

6. Which individuals/organisation has been commissioned to provide antisemitism training to members who must complete training as a sanction, when this training will be finalised and when this training will be rolled out;

7. Whether all members of the NEC on the antisemitism Disputes Panel have completed antisemitism training;

8. How many members who have been through the disciplinary process are waiting to commence antisemitism training;

9. What is the Labour Party’s maximum timescales for responding to members who report instances of antisemitism;

10. How the Labour Party is engaging with the targets of antisemitic abuse;

11. What process the Labour Party is implementing in terms of its duty of care to its elected representatives.