In multiple posts, we’ve noted the UK media’s failure to confront British Labour Party leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn on his record of expressing sympathy towards Palestinian terror groups.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- Corbyn hosted an event organized by Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the British House of Commons with Mousa Abu Maria, an activist with ties to the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
- Corbyn was a guest speaker at an event hosted by Palestine Return Centre, a British group associated with Hamas.
- Corbyn has defended antisemitic extremist preacher Raed Salah against “accusations” of racism.
- In a speech to Stop the War Coalition in 2009, Corbyn referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends“.
However, recently, as Corbyn’s candidacy has begun to be taken more seriously, a few news sites and blogs have confronted him on his radicalism. Just last night, Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru Murthy questioned Corbyn on his reference to Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOZZF5XCDBM]
In addition to Corbyn’s failure to maintain his composure when asked a reasonable question about his opinion about two terror groups, it’s telling that, when given the chance to disassociate himself from his previous remarks, he dug in deeper by bizarrely suggesting that Hamas and Hezbollah are essential parts of any “peace process”. It’s as if the MP has no understanding whatsoever about the murderous antisemitism of both groups, and their leaders’ insistence that the Jewish state must be destroyed.
Of course, in addition to their antisemitism, both groups, as Professor Alan Johnson has noted, oppose “everything the labour movement has ever stood for: trade union rights, freedom of speech and organisation, women’s equality, gay and lesbian rights, anti-racism, the enlightenment, and reason”.
Whilst we’re glad that the Channel 4 News presenter confronted Corbyn on his comments on Hamas and Hezbollah, it would be nice if a British journalist would ask him a broader question: how can he claim to represent liberal left politics while simultaneously legitimizing movements on the extreme right of the political spectrum?
Related articles
- Toning down Islamic Jihad terror BBC style (bbcwatch.org)
- Coffee Shots: Jeremy Corbyn goes corporate (blogs.spectator.co.uk)
