Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday criticizes Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn of "failing to understand" anti-Semitism, saying Corbyn has the responsibility to "root out" racist behavior within his party's ranks.
Since unexpectedly becoming Labour leader in 2015 after decades on the left-wing fringes of the party, Corbyn has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic comments in the party and among groups he supports.
On Monday, British Jewish groups held a protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London against Corbyn, accusing him of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in party ranks.
Corbyn responded on Monday with an open letter to both groups in which he recognized that anti-Semitism had surfaced within his party, apologized for the pain this had caused, and pledged to redouble his efforts to stamp it out. He offered to meet both groups' leaders urgently to discuss their concerns.
According to The Sun, however, Blair was unimpressed.
"I don't believe he [Corbyn] is personally anti-Semitic but I do believe that he and the people around him, particularly, do not understand the seriousness of this problem," he said.
Blair, who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and was then appointed the special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, an office which he held until May 2015, insisted that words alone would not solve the problem and urged Corbyn to be more attentive to the community.
"He has to show he is prepared to act" to eradicate anti-Semitism in Labour ranks, Blair said.
Labour MP John Mann said Tuesday that unless the party took the issue seriously, it might "cease to exist."
"What I have fears about is our reputation and our standing as a party, the future of our party, if we don't deal with racism from within. Those people need expelling, kicking out of the Labour party. He [Corbyn] talked the talk, he needs to walk the walk," Mann told ITV's "Good Morning Britain."
British media said about a dozen Labour MPs attended Monday's protest in solidarity with the Jewish community.
Labour grandee Lord Michael Levy said that the Jewish community felt "very anxious" and the Labour Party has "not understood" what a zero-tolerance approach should look like.
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that a "worrying culture has been allowed to develop" within Labour, which was now "promoting the world's oldest hatred."
"Passover remembers the persecution of the past, as well as the physical journey Jews took to escape it. It's shameful that thousands of years later that journey still continues. But they should know for as long as that journey lasts, in this country they will never have to walk it alone," he said.
