Jeremy Corbyn should quit, says British Home Secretary

Sajid Javid said the latest anti-semitism controversy to engulf the Labour party would see any other leader resign

Britain's opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his house in London, Britain, August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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Sajid Javid, the British Home Secretary, has said the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should resign over the latest anti-semitism controversy which is currently engulfing the country's main opposition party.

“If this was the leader of any other major political party, he or she would be gone by now,” Mr Javid wrote on Twitter, linking to an article which claimed Mr Corbyn had honoured the Palestinian terrorists behind the Munich Olympics attack in 1972 that saw 11 Israeli athletes murdered.

The Daily Mail ran a front-page story on Saturday alleging that Mr Corbyn had attended a memorial ceremony in a Tunis cemetery in 2014, before he became leader, which was for the members of the Black September group.

Mr Corbyn strongly refuted the newspaper’s story, saying that he was there to pay respects to the 47 Palestinians who were killed by an Israeli air strike at a Palestinian Liberation Operation base in the country in 1985.

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The Daily Mail published photographs that appeared to show the ceremony where Mr Corbyn was next to a plaque beside the graves of the Black September dead, and a short distance from the monument to the PLO dead.

It’s the latest blow to the party which has been struggling against accusations of anti-semitism in its ranks since Mr Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.

Following the publication of the story, Mr Corbyn has received fresh criticism for his views on Israel and his perceived anti-semitism.

Jonathan Goldstein, the chair of Jewish Leadership Council, told the Jewish News: "This man is not fit to be a member of parliament, let alone a national leader.

“He has spent his entire political career cavorting with conspiracy theorists, terrorists and revolutionaries who seek to undo all the good for which our ancestors have given their lives. In so many ways, enough is enough.”