Jeremy Corbyn attended an event last night hosted by a far-Left group that has called for the destruction of Israel.
He celebrated Passover with a group known as ‘Jewdas’ which dismissed the Labour anti-Semitism scandal as a ‘cynical manipulation’.
Leaked audio revealed that Mr Corbyn was present at the event in his constituency where guests allegedly booed the names of mainstream Jews.
Jeremy Corbyn attended an event last night hosted by a far-Left group that has called for the destruction of Israel
The Labour leader is already under pressure following a steady stream of revelations of an anti-Semitism issue within Labour.
But last night, Labour MPs and campaigners expressed incredulity that he would meet with the controversial group during the Jewish Passover festival.
Labour MP Wes Streeting, a vocal critic of anti-Semitism, said: ‘This calls into serious question the sincerity of every public statement Jeremy Corbyn has made on anti-Semitism during the past week, just as many of us hoped we had begun to make progress.’
Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, said: ‘Given the anti-Semitism crisis engulfing the Labour Party, there is absolutely no way that Mr Corbyn can claim that this too was an oversight. The Party must consider the message that is sent to British Jews and other minorities by him remaining as Leader.’
It came as the Corbyn-supporting movement Momentum criticised the party’s ‘failure’ to deal with anti-Semitism and warned that the issue was ‘widespread’.
At least ten Labour councillors or candidates are said to have been reported to the party over anti-Semitic slurs.
Mr Corbyn’s attendance at the controversial event will do little to reassure his critics.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London
This weekend he deleted his Facebook account after it emerged he was a member of five groups hosting anti-Semitic material.
He was previously forced to apologise for questioning the removal of an anti-Semitic mural which showed Jewish figures playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor.
Last night, Labour sources insisted that the leader attended the event in a personal, rather than professional capacity, and was not working.
He chose to spend the evening celebrating Passover with ‘friends and members of the Jewish community and people from within his constituency and nearby’, they said.
He apparently brought beetroot from his own allotment as a gift.
Asked whether Mr Corbyn was aware of what Jewdas stood for, a source said: ‘I don’t have that information.’
The recording, obtained by the Guido Fawkes website, revealed that guests reportedly shouted ‘f*** capitalism’ at the event.
Mr Corbyn celebrated Passover with a group known as ‘Jewdas’ which dismissed the Labour anti-Semitism
Attendees were recorded booing the name of Jonathan Arkush, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
The event was reported to have ended with the words: ‘Enough is enough. F*ck you all,’ in an echo of the campaign to end anti-Semitism.
But Labour sources disputed this, saying that attendees had said the words used were actually ‘next year, Sheffield’.
Critics highlighted that the leader chose to spend the Passover festival with a group critical of mainstream British Jews.
He did not meet the Board of Deputies of British Jews or the Jewish Leadership Council, both of which claim to represent mainstream British Jews.
Instead, the group reportedly attacked their response to Labour’s anti-Semitism as ‘playing a dangerous game with people’s lives’.
Jewdas describes itself as a ‘radical’ group that ‘opposes capitalism’ and wants to ‘overthrow the state’ and describes Jewish critics as ‘non-Jews’.
Leaked audio revealed that Mr Corbyn was present at the event in his constituency hosted by a Jewish group where guests allegedly booed the names of mainstream Jews
It has reportedly tweeted that ‘Israel is itself a steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of’.
It is said to have dismissed the Labour anti-Semitism scandal as a ‘bout of faux-outrage’ and criticised mainstream Jewish leaders.
It branded the anti-Semitism scandal ‘the work of cynical manipulations by people whose express loyalty is to the Conservative Party and the right wing of the Labour Party’.
In a blog post on its website four days ago, it reportedly labelled the editor of the Jewish Chronicle newspaper Stephen Pollard a ‘non-Jew’.
Sources said other members of the Jewish community were present, including senior Rabbi Laura Janner Clausner was present.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘Jeremy was invited to a Passover Seder with Jewish members of his local community.
Yesterday, the Labour leader gave an interview to Channel 4 News in which he accepted that there was ‘genuine concern’
‘He wrote to the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council last week to ask for an urgent formal meeting to discuss tackling antisemitism in the Labour Party and in society.’
The Momentum intervention will add to pressure on Mr Corbyn to take further action following a series of offensive posts by Labour members.
It issued a statement yesterday saying the anti-Jewish smears were the work of more than just a few ‘bad apples’ and should not be dismissed as ‘right wing smears… or conspiracies’.
It acknowledged the ‘anger, upset and despair within the British Jewish community at the numerous cases of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party’.
It was agreed by the movement’s national coordinating group, which includes Christine Shawcroft, who resigned as chair of Labour’s disputes panel after opposing the suspension of an apparent Holocaust denier. She insisted anti-Semitism was ‘being stirred up to attack Jeremy’.
Yesterday, the Labour leader gave an interview to Channel 4 News in which he accepted that there was ‘genuine concern’ about the issue.
Anti-Semitism was ‘on the rise’ in Britain and in other parts of Europe, he added.
He said the first task of Jennie Formby, the new Labour General Secretary, who starts work today (MON), would be to appoint an in-house lawyer to tighten-up party procedures.
At least 10 sitting councillors or candidates contesting seats for Labour at local elections in May have been reported to the party over anti-Semitism, according to BuzzFeed.