BICOM

Knesset members from across a number of parties have roundly condemned comments made by the leader of the UK Labour Party, which appeared to draw an analogy between Israel and ISIS.

Jeremy Corbyn was speaking at the launch of a 30-page report into antisemitism and other forms of racism in the party, following an inquiry headed by former director of human rights organisation Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti. He said: “Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu Government than our Muslim friends are for those various self-styled Islamic states or organisations.”

Asked to clarify his remarks, Corbyn appeared to repeat the inference. He said: “You shouldn’t say to someone that just because they’re Jewish you must have an opinion on Israel, any more that you say to anyone who’s a Muslim you must have an opinion on the vile actions being taken by people misquoting the good name of Islam in what they do.”

The head of Israel’s Labour Party, Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog said: “Corbyn’s suggestion of moral equivalence between Israel and ISIS is outrageous, unacceptable, and a betrayal of global Labour values.”

His colleague, Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly commented: “Corbyn has finally gone insane and his leadership shames Labour.”

Another Zionist Union MK, Nachman Shai, suggested that the Labour Party and its’ Israeli equivalent are “no longer in the same family”.

Yair Lapid, leader of Yesh Atid, called on Israel’s Labour Party “to cut all ties with their counterpart in Britain until the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, is replaced”. He called it “unacceptable” that especially on a day in which an Israeli teenager had been murdered in her bed by a Palestinian terrorist, “the Leader of the Opposition in the UK compares Israel and ISIS”.

Likud MK Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee also condemned the comments. He said: “Corbyn has learned nothing from the history of the British people, Israel or the Jewish people.”