London - Prime Minister Theresa May pledged on Monday to protect British Jewish identity and Israel’s right to defend itself, in an attack on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to his Labour Party conference next weekend.
May told a United Jewish Israel Appeal dinner she was “sickened” by the idea that some Jews questioned whether Britain was a safe place to raise their children.
Labour has been angrily divided this year over pockets of anti-Semitism which Corbyn himself has acknowledged. Critics suggest he should step down for failing to tackle the issue.
A poll in Britain’s Jewish Chronicle earlier this month said that 40 percent of Jews would consider emigrating if Corbyn won power in a national election.
In August Britain’s former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks called Corbyn an anti-Semite and said comments about Zionists made by him in 2013, before he was Labour’s leader, were the most offensive by a senior UK politician in half a century.
Corbyn said five years ago that British Zionists “don’t understand English irony” despite “having lived in this country for a very long time”.
“If we are to stand up for the values that we share - then one of the things we need to do is give young Jewish people the confidence to be proud of their identity – as British, Jewish and Zionist too,” May said.
“There is no contradiction between these identities - and we must never let anyone try to suggest that there should be.”
Corbyn, a veteran campaigner for Palestinian rights who has moved Labour to the left, has pledged to eradicate anti-Semitism. This month Labour adopted an internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism in hopes of ending the row.
Last month, Corbyn said in his 2013 comments he had been describing some pro-Israel activists as Zionists, an explanation which failed to calm the furor.
May said in her speech on Monday “nothing excuses anti-Semitism – not comedy, not satire, not even irony”.
May said she was committed to strong economic ties between Britain and Israel.