Theresa May
Theresa MayReuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed complete solidarity with British Jews and condemned anti-Semitism against them.

In a speech to the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) in London, May said she felt "sickened" when she saw poll indicating that 40 percent of British Jews were considering leaving their country if Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was elected prime minister.

“It sickens me that anyone should feel like that in our country. I do not underestimate the threat posed by those who promote anti-Semitism, or hatred in any form. Nor the pernicious nature of what those people say and what they stand for,” she said.

“Nothing excuses anti-Semitism – not comedy, not satire, not even irony.”

May said that “one of the most sickening aspects of the antisemitism that tries, abhorrently, to suggest Israel is a racist endeavour – is that those voices seek to separate the Jewish diaspora in our country from their connection with Israel.”

“I stand with Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. And I stand with the entire Jewish community in Britain.

“In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher shop attacks in Paris I came to a Board of Deputies meeting and joined you in defiance of that horror to say ‘Je suis Juif.’

“And in the face of any kind of hatred against the Jewish people – in any form and anywhere, whether overseas or right here in our own country – I say with that same defiance: ‘Je suis Juif.’

“And I say that tonight, not just speaking for myself, and not just speaking for my political party, but also as Prime Minister, speaking for our whole country,” she emphasized.