British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is under fire once again for applauding a call to dismantle Israel.
In a video of a 2011 pro-Palestinian conference posted to Twitter, Thursday, Corbyn can be seen applauding comments by Yisrael Dovid Weiss of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox sect Neturei Karta as he says, "You said there should be the end of a Jewish state. I just wanted to respectfully say: The end of a Zionist state that has kidnapped the name of Judaism, it's not a Jewish state."
In footage captured by the blogger Richard Millet, during the event Rabbi Weiss went on an extreme anti-Israel rant in which he calls for the "dismantlement" of the state of Israel. Corbyn (head just in view) lends his support for this statement by applauding his outburst: pic.twitter.com/EDNgu9qsSl
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According to the report in the Jewish News, Weiss said, "We want a peaceful dismantlement of the state and to live together in harmony, God willing it will happen."
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said, "Applauding a speaker calling for Israel to be dismantled is endorsing yet another extremist position."
She said, "This rag-tag band of racists, extremists, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers with whom Mr. Corbyn has consorted have contributed not one iota to peace in the Middle East."
"They have served only to spread hatred against Jewish communities and to the entrenchment of hard-line views that have extended the conflict."
She said that "the list of things for which Jeremy Corbyn needs to apologize to Jews and Israelis grows and grows."
A Labour spokesman said Corbyn had only endorsed Weiss's call for a free and peaceful Palestine.
"Jeremy Corbyn has a long and principled record of solidarity with the Palestinian people and he attended this public meeting to show his support for peace and justice in the Middle East. He and the Labour Party support a two-state solution to the conflict, with a secure Israel alongside a secure and viable Palestinian state."
Sunday's report is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding Corbyn's positions on Israel and Jews since he was elected party chief in 2015. In recent months, disturbing images of Corbyn and remarks made by him have come to light. Reports have shown him placing a wreath at the grave of a Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics and attending the wedding of a known Holocaust denier.
In late July, three Jewish newspapers in the U.K. ran a joint editorial calling Corbyn "an existential threat to Jewish life in this country." The editorial, which ran in the Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish News, and Jewish Telegraph, said that since Corbyn's election as Labour leader in 2015, the party had grown increasingly tolerant of anti-Semitism.
"The party that was, until recently, the natural home for our community has seen its values and integrity eroded by Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel," the editorial said.
