(CNN) — The UK’s Chief Rabbi has strongly criticized Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of allegations of anti-Semitism in an unprecedented intervention during the final weeks of the election campaign.
Writing in The Times newspaper, Ephraim Mirvis said “British Jews are gripped by anxiety” at the prospect of Labour forming the next government, following the general election on December 12.
Mirvis, who heads the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, said Corbyn’s claim that his party is doing all it can to tackle anti-Semitism is “a mendacious fiction.”
He said the manner in which allegations of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party had been handled was “incompatible with the British values of which we are so proud.”
“It is a failure to see this as a human problem rather than a political one. It is a failure of culture. It is a failure of leadership. A new poison — sanctioned from the top — has taken root in the Labour Party,” he said.
CNN has reached out to the Labour Party for a response to the Chief Rabbi’s comments.
Labour candidate for Birmingham Yardley Jess Phillips said on Twitter that the “only response to the chief Rabbi that is moral is, “I’m sorry and I’ll do whatever I possibly can to win back your community’s trust.” So that’s what I will say.”
Mirvis’ statement comes as reports of anti-Semitic incidents spike in the UK, according to a report by the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors anti-Semitism in Britain.
Mirvis added: “How complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition have to be to be considered unfit for office? Would associations with those who have incited hatred against Jews be enough? Would describing as ‘friends’ those who endorse the murder of Jews be enough? It seems not.”
Shadow cast
The Chief Rabbi’s condemnation of Corbyn and his leadership could damage Labour’s hopes of ousting Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party from power.
Corbyn, who became Labour leader in 2015, has long been an outspoken critic of Israel and a campaigner for Palestinian rights.
He was widely condemned for being present at a 2014 wreath-laying ceremony at a cemetery in Tunisia, where members of Black September — the Palestinian terrorist organization which carried out the 1972 Munich attack, in which 11 Israeli Olympians were killed — are buried.
Questions over whether the Labour Party contains anti-Semitic elements have been on the rise in recent years and, at best, Corbyn has been accused of turning a blind eye to the resurgence of anti-Semitism within British politics and the party itself.
Corbyn acknowledged in 2018 “that anti-Semitism has occurred in pockets within the Labour Party” and apologized for the hurt caused.
In his Times article, Chief Rabbi Mirvis refused to tell people who to cast their ballot for, but urged them to vote with their conscience.
“I simply pose the question: what will the result of this election say about the moral compass of our country?” He wrote. “Be in no doubt, the very soul of our nation is at stake.”
This story was first published on CNN.com, “British Jews ‘gripped by anxiety’ at prospect of Labour government, says chief rabbi.”
