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Outrage over Corbyn's Rosh Hashanah video featuring activist who said Kaddish for Hamas members
An attempt to use the Jewish New Year to promote Labour's green agenda has drawn furious criticism
September 29, 2019 14:44
An attempt to use the Jewish New Year to promote Labour's green agenda has drawn furious criticism
September 29, 2019 14:44A Rosh Hashanah video by Jeremy Corbyn featuring a left-wing activist who led a public Jewish prayer for dead Hamas members during the 2018 Gaza border conflict has sparked outrage.
In the video, which sidelines the festival's central message of self-reflection and repentance, the opposition leader visits a greengrocer in his Islington constituency in London, where he discusses the Jewish New Year symbols of honey and apples as a way to promote Labour’s “Green Industrial Revolution” programme.
Entering the shop alongside Mr Corbyn is Rob Abrams, a Jewish anti-Zionist activist who in May 2018 led a Kaddish in Parliament Square for the 62 Palestinians killed on the Israel-Gaza border, at least 50 of whom were Hamas operatives.
For #RoshHashanah, I met Jewish Labour Party members who told me what it means for them this year as we shared apples and honey.
So as the High Holy Days start, I'd like to wish Jewish communities in Britain and across the world #Shanahtovah. pic.twitter.com/wWjhAd7fDN
Mr Abrams tells Mr Corbyn: “The apple is the fruit of the Earth.. and it brings us back to one of the most important elements of Judaism, the guardianship of the Earth.”
The Jewish Labour Movement's Rebecca Filer immediately tweeted on Sunday: "Rosh Hashanah is not about climate change, the bee population or the Green Industrial Revolution. "
Simon Myerson QC added: "What’s so remarkable about this is that Rosh Hashanah is actually about self-reflection and communal repentance. We ask for forgiveness. That’s a message Corbyn could use. But instead he picks a group of nochshleppers who tell him it’s about climate change."
Also in the video discussing Rosh Hashanah is Labour councillor Sue Lukes, who has approvingly tweeted a piece entitled the "Jewish 'War against Corbyn' risks bringing real antisemitism to Britain" and written an article to "honour" former NUS president Malia Bouattia, who described the University of Birmingham as a "Zionist outpost".
So @JeremyCorbyn chose to have a woman in his Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) video who had previously tweeted out an article entitled "The Jewish 'War Against Corbyn' risks bringing real antisemitism to Britain"......... pic.twitter.com/IGj57moBRY
— The Golem (@TheGolem_) September 29, 2019
Jewish Momentum founder Jon Lansman, who has remained a driving force in Labour activism despite the party’s descent into institutional racism, appears alongside Mr Abrams and Ms Lukes in the footage.
He says: “My grandchildren have been on school strike for the climate this last week, and I’m looking forward to taking them their apples and honey.”
In a statement at the end of the video, Mr Corbyn says: “Learning more about Rosh Hashanah has given me hope that we’ll defend our green future…We must do everything in our power to combat the climate emergency through a Green Industrial Revolution.”
In response, campaigner against antisemitism David Collier wrote: “There is no way you are not aware much of the Jewish community were outraged when this person explicitly led a prayer service for dead Hamas terrorists.
“Which makes your actions here deliberate. Your spiteful nature highlights you are a real danger.”
There is no way you are not aware much of the Jewish community were outraged when this person explicitly led a prayer service for dead Hamas terrorists. Which makes your actions here deliberate. Your spiteful nature highlights you are a real danger.
— David Collier (@mishtal) September 29, 2019
Majid Narwaz, chair of counter-extremism think tank Quilliam, tweeted: "Give it up. Not even I believe you, let alone the overwhelming majority of British Jews and Jewish community organisations (who have already made their views about you clearly known)."
