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Wednesday 15 August 2018 - 05:03

Labour MPs defend Corbyn over Twitter spat with Israeli PM

Story Code : 744686
The leader of the British opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn
The leader of the British opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn

Labour’s Shadow Chancellor and a close ally of the Labour leader, John McDonnell, accused the Israeli prime minister of joining a "media feeding frenzy" and declared: "Enough is enough."

Corbyn has been targeted by Netanyahu in a tweet following allegations that the British politician laid a wreath at the funeral for a Palestinian man involved in the 1972 Munich kidnapping.

The Labour leader has denied the accusation saying that Mr. Netanyahu's claims about his "actions... are false" and that he was instead attending a memorial for victims of the bombing of Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters by Israel in 1985.

Another senior Labour MP and former Shadow Cabinet figure, Chris Williamson, went on the offensive, tweeting that Netanyahu’s Israeli is a “rightwing apartheid regime”.

Netanyahu, who’s currently facing charges of corruption in Israel, crossed a “line in the sand” according to McDonnell by interfering in the affairs of British Labour party leading to the heavy only reaction.

Labour has been embroiled in an ongoing debate on the definition of anti-Semitism. Some argue that a new draft definition being proposed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) hampers people’s ability to criticize Israel.

Throughout the dispute, pro-Israeli media has consistently targeted Corbyn, labeling the Labour leader as an “existential threat to Jewish life”.

But Netanyahu’s attempt to apply further pressure on the Labour leader appears to have backfired with social media quick to highlight several discrepancies in Netanyahu’s comments.

One person on Twitter highlighted Netanyahu’s history of defending Israeli terrorists:
On July 22nd, 1946 the Zionist terrorist organisation Irgun bombed the King David Hotel, the British HQ in Jerusalem. It killed over 90 people, many British. @netanyahu gave a speech in celebration of this terrorist attack at an event marking the 60th anniversary of it.
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) August 14, 2018
 
Another questioned the entire anti-Semitism debate as a “narrative” to silence criticism of Israel:
Benjamin @netanyahu is now openly intervening in British politics, joining the attempt to topple @jeremycorbyn. Can anyone now doubt the whole "antisemitism" narrative is part of an orchestrated campaign to silence criticism of Israel?
— Kit Newton 🎗️ 🇵🇸 (@kitnewtonium) August 13, 2018
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