Tony Blair
Tony BlairFlash 90

Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister and currently chairman of the Institute for Global Change, visited Israel as a guest of Bar-Ilan University's Sir Naim Dangoor Centre for Universal Monotheism.

Blair spoke at the opening gala event of Bar-Ilan University's 64th annual Board of Trustees and was interviewed at the gala event by Channel 12 anchorwoman Yonit Levy.

In his remarks, Blair was critical of the Labour Party, which he once led, over its anti-Semitic conduct.

"If you'd told me back in May 1997 or at any time in the next ten years that the Labour Party – which I led for 13 years – would have a problem with anti-Semitism today, I wouldn't have believed it. Anti-Semitism must be confronted immediately. It is a poison that must be rooted out and eradicated," he said.

On Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Blair said, "Is Jeremy Corbyn anti-Semitic? Some of the remarks are not explicable in any other way, I'm afraid, and that's very sad. Does he think he is anti-Semitic? No, he doesn't think at all that he is."

Regarding the peace process and the Trump administration’s peace plan, the former British Prime Minister said, "The State of Israel needs to know that any independent state of Palestine will be properly and securely governed. If that isn't the case, no matter who the prime minister is, it will be hard to make peace."

"The two-state solution will only happen if first there is a genuine cultural acceptance of the State of Israel and Palestinian politics is unified and accepting of this, and secondly, by building the links between the Arab world," he continued.

Blair also discussed the Brexit saga and said, "Brexit is a destiny changing decision for the country. The dilemma is that there's a painful version of Brexit and a pointless version. We're three years on without a resolution, so I think to resolve it, it should go back to the people."