The former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks today lashed Jeremy Corbyn as an ‘anti-Semite’ who ‘defiles our politics’.
He said a tape of him attacking English Zionist Jews was the most offensive remark by a British politician since Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech in 1968.
MailOnline revealed last week Mr Corbyn used a speech at the Palestinian Return Centre in London in 2013 to criticise a group of British Zionists.
But Labour hit back at the former chief rabbi’s remarks, branding them ‘absurd and offensive’.
Rows over anti-Semitism have rocked Labour all summer after the party refused to adopt in full an internationally accepted definition of hatred against Jews.
The party is expected to finally do so next week – but it was claimed today could still add caveats to its rulebook to protect members who accuse the Israeli government of racist treatment of Palestinians.
And the Labour leader faced fresh controversy today after MailOnline unearthed another video in which Mr Corbyn claimed that Israeli officials control the speeches made by British MPs.
The former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks today lashed Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in Edinburgh last week) as an ‘anti-Semite’ who ‘defiles our politics’
Mr Sacks (file image) said a tape of him attacking English Zionist Jews was the most offensive remark by a British politician since Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech in 1968
Mr Sacks told the New Statesman: ‘The recently disclosed remarks by Jeremy Corbyn are the most offensive statement made by a senior British politician since Enoch Powell’s 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech.
‘It was divisive, hateful and like Powell’s speech it undermines the existence of an entire group of British citizens by depicting them as essentially alien.’
Mr Sacks said Mr Corbyn could only be judged by ‘his words and his actions’.
In the remarks revealed by MailOnline, which have been widely condemned as anti-Semitic, Mr Corbyn said: ‘They clearly have two problems.
‘One is they don’t want to study history and, secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t understand English irony either.’
The remarks, made while the Labour leader was still an obscure backbencher, reignited the toxic row over anti-Semitism inside Labour that has rocked the party.
Continuing his attack on the Labour leader as ‘low, dishonest and dangerous’, Mr Sacks said: ‘He has given support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.
‘When he implies that, however long they have lived here, Jews are not fully British, he is using the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.
‘When challenged with such facts, the evidence for which is before our eyes, first he denies, then he equivocates, then he obfuscates.’
Mr Sacks said Mr Corbyn’s ’embrace of hate defiles our politics’ and warned Jews were threatened by having an ‘anti-Semite as the Leader of the Labour Party and Her Majesty’s Official Opposition’.
A Labour party spokeswoman said: ‘This comparison with the race-baiting Enoch Powell is absurd and offensive.
‘Jeremy Corbyn described a particular group of pro-Israel activists as Zionists, in the accurate political sense – not as a synonym or code for Jewish people.
‘Jeremy Corbyn is determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour Party and in wider society, and the Labour Party is committed to rebuilding trust with the Jewish community.’
But Mr Corbyn is facing a fresh storm of controversy after MailOnline unearthed another video showing him accusing MPs of having their contributions to a debate written by the Israeli ambassador.
Speaking at a meeting of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in London in 2010, he accused MPs speaking in a parliamentary debate about the shooting of Turkish activists at sea by the Israeli commandos of turning up with a ‘pre-prepared script’.
He said: ‘[British MPs] all turned up [to the debating chamber] with a pre-prepared script. I’m sure our friend Ron Prosor (the Israeli ambassador) wrote it.
‘Because they all came up with the same key words. It was rather like reading a European document looking for buzz-words.
‘And the buzz-words were, “Israel’s need for security”. And then “the extremism of the people on one ship”. And “the existence of Turkish militants on the vessel”.
‘It came through in every single speech, this stuff came through.’
In a statement issued last Friday night on his remarks on Zionists and irony, Mr Corbyn defended his use of language in 2013 – but said he was now more cautious.
He said he had used the term Zionists ‘in the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people’.
He added: ‘I am now more careful with how I might use the term ‘Zionist’ because a once self-identifying political term has been increasingly hijacked by anti-Semites as code for Jews.’
Commenting on the same remarks, a spokeswoman for Mr Corbyn said: ‘This was a speech about the need to better teach the history of Israel-Palestine and about the brutality of colonialism, occupation and dispossession.
‘A section of the speech that was edited out of the footage posted on YouTube sets his comments in context, he had been speaking about Zionists and non-Zionist Jews and very clearly does not go on to use Zionists as any kind of shorthand for Jews.’
Jews, including the Labour MP Luciana Berger (pictured) have repeatedly demanded Mr Corbyn tackle anti-Semitism inside Labour