Jeremy Corbyn Quotes

[Our joint editorial results from] the existential threat to Jewish life in this country that would be posed by a Jeremy Corbyn-led government.

The stain and shame of antisemitism has coursed through her majesty’s opposition since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015.

I'm furious with people who respond to these points by huffing that criticism of Israel, by Corbyn or anyone on the left, does not make one antisemitic, even though Israel had nothing to do with any of Corbyn's antisemitic encounters; and I'm furious with people who imply a little antisemitism is a price worth paying to achieve Corbyn’s socialist society. I'm furious with people who spent all of last week reading Russian runes into an image of Corbyn's hat on Newsnight, and this week insist they can't see anything antisemitic about a blatantly antisemitic mural. Most of all, I am furious with people for insisting there is nothing to see here, when we all know that if a Tory or Ukip politician had done half of the things Corbyn has done, these same people would be insisting they be put in the stocks. The hypocrisy takes the breath away.

Hizbollah commits terrorist atrocities against Jews, but Corbyn calls them his friends and attends pro-Hizbollah rallies in London. Exactly the same goes for Hamas. Raed Salah says Jews kill Christian children to drink their blood. Corbyn opposes his extradition and invites him for tea at the House of Commons. These are not the only cases. He is repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly antisemitic views, but claims never to hear or read them.

In a 2005 essay, Mr [Paul] Eisen detailed his support for a jailed German ­Holocaust denier; "rehumanised" Adolf Hitler; and insisted being a Holocaust denier was an "entirely ­honourable thing".
His claims prompted a number of DYR [Deir Yassin Remembered] directors to withdraw from the group. In 2007, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) cut its links with DYR over its anti-Semitism although Mr Corbyn, himself a patron of PSC, attended at least one further event in 2013 organised by Mr Eisen and Mrs Kaffash.
They had been publicly ­exposed as – or else admitted to being – Holocaust deniers prior to Mr ­Corbyn's decision to denounce DYR. Tracked down by The Telegraph, Mrs Kaffash, 78, a co-organiser of its annual event commemorating an alleged ­massacre of Arabs at Deir Yassin in 1948, said: "Jeremy was a stalwart of DYR... a very important supporter. You can rely on Jeremy. He came to this house and sat in that chair."
She claimed to The Telegraph that in her view: "He could not not know what Paul's views were. Or mine."
Asked about her views of the Holocaust, Mrs Kaffash, who denies being anti-Semitic, said: “I don’t think there is evidence gas chambers were used to exterminate Jews. I don’t think there is evidence of a policy of extermination."

There was a strange aftertaste to many of the calls for grand social reform in 2020. As the coronavirus crisis overtook us, the left wing on both sides of the Atlantic, at least that part that had been fired up Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, was going down to defeat. The promise of a radicalized and reenergized left, organized around the idea of the Green New Deal, seemed to dissipate amidst the pandemic. It fell to governments mainly of the center and the right to meet the crisis. They were a strange assortment. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the United States experimented with denial. For them climate skepticism and virus skepticism went hand in hand. In Mexico, the notionally left-wing government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador also pursued a maverick path, refusing to take drastic action. Nationalist strongmen like Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Narendra Modi in India, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey did not deny the virus, but relied on their patriotic appeal and bullying tactics to see them through. It was the managerial centrist types who were under most pressure. Figures like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the United States, or Sebastián Piñera in Chile, or Cyril Ramaphosa in South Africa, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Ursula von der Leyen, and their ilk in Europe. They accepted the science. Denial was not an option. They were desperate to demonstrate that they were better than the 'populists.' To meet the crisis, very middle-of-the-road politicians ended up doing very radical things. Most of it was improvisation and compromise, but insofar as they managed to put a programmatic gloss on their responses—whether in the form of the EU's Next Generation program or Biden's Build Back Better program in 2020—it came from the repertoire of green modernization, sustainable development, and the Green New Deal.

The four black MPs were inundated with casework from all over the country. Issues of racism, of discrimination, all the issues the black community faced.

If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group.
The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.
We should not entertain questions from those who have no interest in applying this basic consistency.

I don't support any attacks, therefore I criticise them all.

[Linking criticism over antisemitism to his stance on the Middle East] I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that my clearly stated support for the right of Palestinian people to be able to live in peace free from occupation, free from being under siege as in Gaza, and for those living in refugee camps … played a factor in all this. Benjamin Netanyahu couldn't wait to condemn me for my support for the Palestinian people.

Julian Assange has paid a very, very, very high price for his lifelong determination to expose the truth. Why? Is it because he has... the belief that by exposing the truth, you can save lives, you can stop wars, and you can make sure that democracies function properly by holding all public officials, elected or unelected, to public account?... His information exposed the dishonesty surrounding the claims on Iraq. His information exposed the dishonesty of the continuing reporting of Iraq after 2003 with hidden information about the numbers of people that had died from "friendly fire" in Iraq, but also the dangers to all journalists, to everyone who believes in free speech, of the concept of the embedded journalist, embedded on an aircraft carrier, sent into a barracks or whatever else, to produce reports... to the liking of the military... Those of us who want to live in a peaceful world,... are here because we want to support Julian Assange in the bravery that he’s shown and the price that he’s already paid for that bravery of ensuring that the whole world knows the truth about it.

One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.
That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated. My sincere hope is that relations with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of its findings, I trust its recommendations will be swiftly implemented to help move on from this period.

I recently had dinner at a friend’s house where the number of guests eventually exceeded five. I understand that remaining at the dinner was a breach of the rule of six. I apologise for my mistake

[Andrew Neil]: Let me ask you this. Is it antisemitic to say Rothschild’s Zionists run Israel and world governments?
JC: In the Chakrabarti report we asked that people did not use comparisons about conspiracies, not use ...
AN: Is that antisemitic?
JC: ... because in the belief of Shami, and I support her on this in that report, that can be constructed as being an antisemitic statement and therefore – and therefore should not be –
AN: Right, but let’s just get it clear. I asked you – I gave you a specific quote. Are the words "Rothschild’s Zionists run Israel and world government’. Is that antisemitic?
JC: It should not be used and it is.
AN: But you can’t say it’s antisemitic?
JC: Look, I just said that it should not be used.

The British people must have a chance to decide the end of this process. We've had a referendum in 2016, we've had all the debate and we now have a PM trying to take us over a cliff-edge in a few weeks' time. That's entirely wrong. That's why I did all I could to work with opposition parties to legislate to ensure that he had to negotiate an extension.