Arab MKs
Arab MKsFlash 90

Knesset members from the Joint List on Sunday wrote a letter to The Guardian newspaper in Britain in which they announced their support for UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In the letter, the MKs commended Corbyn for “his long-standing solidarity with all oppressed peoples around the world, including his unflinching support for the Palestinian people.”

“We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn and we recognize him as a principled leftist leader who aspires for peace and justice and is opposed to all forms of racism, whether directed at Jews, Palestinians, or any other group,” they added.

“As long as efforts to curb anti-Jewish sentiment in the UK are focused on combating the disparagement of Jews merely for their membership in a minority group, they have our full support,” said the MKs, who also added that the definition of anti-Semitism “goes far beyond anti-Jewish animus to include anti-Zionism.”

The letter further claimed that Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel have “yet to experience a single day of equality”, adding that millions more in Judea and Samaria live under “occupation” and “under siege in the Gaza Strip.”

“Incredibly, instead of taking that government to task for its unadulterated racism, the British political class ignores the Palestinian historical plight. With the Netanyahu government ramping up the racism, our struggle for survival is more precarious than ever,” it claims.

The letter made no mention of the fact that Israeli Arabs have the right to vote, serve in the Knesset, study in Israeli universities, share the same hospitals and public facilities and work alongside Israeli Jews.

The letter comes as Corbyn and the Labour party continue to be plagued by controversies related to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments.

The Daily Mail recently published photos of the Labour leader at a cemetery in Tunisia holding a wreath near the graves of some of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists who were responsible for the massacre of the 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Days later, a picture emerged of Corbyn apparently making a salute linked to the Muslim Brotherhood organization.

That week, the Times of Londonpublished a picture of Corbyn meeting with the leader-in-exile of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization, only weeks before its members carried out an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue in which six people were murdered.

Later, it was revealed that Corbyn attended a conference with a convicted Hamas leader who was jailed in Israel for his role in orchestrating a string of terrorist attacks that killed more than 100 people between 2001 and 2002.

Last week, the Daily Mailexposed remarks made by Corbyn in 2010 in which he hinted that Israeli officials were controlling the speeches made by British MPs.

In addition, dozens of Labour members have been suspended over their anti-Semitic statements in recent years, and the party has been criticized for its failure to deal with the anti-Semitism within it.

Labour has also come under fire for its refusal to adopt all the examples in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, though the party’s ruling body is expected to convene on Tuesday and decide whether to adopt all examples.

Corbyn insists he is not anti-Semitic. He recently published an op-ed in The Guardian, in which he acknowledged that the party has “a real problem” when it comes to anti-Semitism, but strongly rejected the idea that it poses any threat to the British Jewish community.

Corbyn subsequently published a video in which he acknowledged that anti-Semitism has surfaced in the party and apologized for “the hurt that has been caused to many Jewish people.”