UK Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
UK Labor Party leader Jeremy CorbynReuters

The former head of the BBC has called on British Jews not to vote for the UK Labour Party, following leader Jeremy Corbyn's failure to tackle anti-Semitism within the party.

Speaking to The Times, Danny Cohen - who is himself Jewish - said the series of anti-Semitism scandals within Labour were "deeply troubling," and compared Jews voting for Corbyn to Muslims voting for US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"If you are Jewish how can you vote for them? How could you?" he asked.

"For me it would be like being a Muslim and voting for Donald Trump, how could you do it?" he said, referring to Trump's controversial comments including calling on a ban on Muslim immigration to the US.

Cohen added that the absence of any practical steps against anti-Semitism by Labour sent a very worrying message to UK Jews that the party just isn't interested in dealing with the problem.

"You have to feel absolutely confident that it is totally unacceptable and it won’t be tolerated and I personally haven’t felt comfortable that it is happening yet in the Labour party," he stated.

Jeremy Corbyn - formerly a notoriously extreme left-wing backbencher - won a landslide victory in the Labour leadership contest last year, buoyed by an influx of far-left voters to the party. Observers note that since most of the anti-Semitism within the party is emanating from the same hard-left demographic, Corbyn is highly unlikely to confront the problem.

"I am deeply troubled about what is going on in the Labour Party," Cohen continues. "I am deeply troubled that our main opposition party is having such frequent problems with antisemitism. It really disturbs and troubles me."