Corbyn mentioned terror group in article on Tunis conference

Jeremy Corbyn was facing fresh pressure over the notorious Tunisia conference today after claiming he did not know another attendee was a senior member of a terror group that murdered a British rabbi weeks later. 

The Labour leader – who was then an MP – stood alongside Maher al-Taher, the exiled leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), at the ceremony in 2014. 

A month later, Taher’s group claimed responsibility for a terror attack in which four rabbis were slaughtered during their morning prayers, The Times reported.

Challenged by the BBC over why he was with Taher, he said: ‘I was unaware of any of his background.’

But writing in The Morning Star in 2014, Mr Corbyn told how he heard speeches made by members of PFLP at the Tunis conference.

He wrote: ‘The conference was welcomed by the President of Tunisia Dr Moncef Marzouki and heard opening speeches from Palestinian groups including Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as well as solidarity from the Turkish parliament and international support.’  

A spokesman for the Labour leader said: ‘Jeremy has a long and principled record of solidarity with the Palestinian people and engaging with actors in the conflict to support peace and justice in the Middle East.’ 

The Labour leader stood next to Maher al-Taher (ringed) – the exiled leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – at a ceremony in 2014

Labour has been mired in controversy since the Daily Mail exclusively published pictures of Mr Corbyn holding a wreath at the Tunisian cemetery where members of Black September – the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympics attack on Israeli athletes – are buried.

Why is Labour’s new code of conduct on anti-Semitism so controversial?

The Labour anti-Semitism row erupted again after the party leadership refused to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition.

The party’s code explicitly endorses the IHRA definition, but it omits four examples from the IHRA list:

– Accusing Jewish people of being more loyal to Israel than their home country;

– Claiming that Israel’s existence as a state is a racist endeavour;

– Requiring higher standards of behaviour from Israel than other nations; and

– Comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.

Labour insisted that while the examples are not reproduced word-for-word, they are covered in the new code. 

But critics say the decision allows anti-Semitism to continue to fester.

He met Taher there a year before being elected as Labour leader, but the PFLP had already been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the EU for two years.

One rabbi murdered by the PFLP was Briton Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68. 

His widow, Brianna, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn should not be associating with men like that. 

‘They kill to satisfy their political needs. He needs to come to Israel to see how things really are.’

The news adds to the growing storm surrounding Mr Corbyn and Labour over the anti-Semitism row.

The Labour leadership sparked a fresh wave of controversy last month by refusing to adopt the full definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

Mr Corbyn is set to U-turn on the issue and cave in to calls to fully adopt it in order to avoid an embarrassing defeat by his own MPs next month.

But he risks sparking a fresh row with Jewish community groups as he is considering extra clauses to the definition in order to spell out that criticism of Israel is allowed.  

After the synagogue attack, the PFLP wrote on its website that it was ‘a natural response to the ongoing racist policies and crimes of the occupation’.

It added: ‘No place in Jerusalem should be safe so long as the Palestinian people are not safe.’

Three months before meeting Mr Corbyn, the PFLP website quoted Taher saying the ‘Zionist enemy will pay dearly for its ground offensive on Gaza’.

The group has also claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks targeting Israeli civilians and for missile attacks on Israel from Gaza.

One of those rabbis  murdered was British Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, (pictured) who was born in Liverpool

One of those rabbis  murdered was British Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, (pictured) who was born in Liverpool

Mr Corbyn was listed by the Palestinian embassy as being in attendance at a wreath-laying in a cemetery in Tunis, and a photo of him with Taher was posted on the embassy’s Facebook page.

In the synagogue attack, two terrorists used axes and knives to hack worshippers to pieces.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn told The Times: ‘Jeremy attended the conference convened by the president of Tunisia to support Palestinian rights and to bring together Palestinian factions to unite for a peaceful and just settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

‘He is, of course, completely opposed to attacks on civilians.’

In 2001, Taher urged Arabs to target America following the killing of PFLP chief Abu Ali Mustafa in an Israeli missile attack.

In revenge for the killing of Abu Ali Mustafa, the replacement leader of the PFLP Ahmed Saadat, ordered the killing of an Israeli minister, Rehavam Zeevi.

The PFLP was founded in 1967 and was responsible for the hijackings of four Western airliners over the US, Europe, the Far East and the Gulf in 1970.

The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after their passengers and crews had disembarked. The group also reportedly carried out a number of attacks on Israeli and Western embassies around the world. 

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk