Former Labour leader draws flak for saying ‘ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace.’
Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party, defended his decision not to condemn Hamas in the wake of deadly attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group.
Corbyn — who led the party from 2015-2019 but is no longer allowed to sit as a Labour MP — drew flak over the weekend after issuing a statement which did not directly condemn the Hamas militants who killed hundreds of Israelis and took numerous captives in the latest round of bloodshed.
The row has once again demonstrated splits on Middle East policy in Labour, which hopes to form the next British government.
In his weekend statement, posted on Twitter, Corbyn described events in Israel and Palestine as “deeply alarming,” and called for “an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation.”
Referencing Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza, Corbyn said “ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace.”
That prompted immediate criticism from Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, who attacked Corbyn for once describing Hamas representatives as his “friends” — and said the militant group was “murdering children and taking civilian hostages.”
Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands stepped up the attack, writing to Labour’s current leader, Keir Starmer, and urging him to take action against Corbyn, who has already been booted out of the party over an earlier row.
But, speaking on the fringes of Labour’s conference Sunday night, Corbyn — a lifelong Palestinian rights campaigner who has launched a “Peace and Justice” project since leaving post — sought to justify his stance.
“You don’t just condemn, as I do, any acts of violence anywhere around the world,” he told an event organized by the left-wing Momentum group.
“You look at the causes as well, you look at the causes of the wars … in Yemen, in Ukraine, and the current terrible situation in Israel and Palestine. The way to end that, I think, is to end the occupation in Palestine, by Israel.”
Lammy: Never a justification for terror
The comments from Labour’s former leader drew a sharp contrast with the official line from the party.
Addressing the Liverpool conference on Monday morning, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Labour “utterly condemns Hamas’s appalling attack on Israel.”
He added: “There is never, never a justification for terrorism. Labour stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect its civilians.”
While rowing in firmly behind Israel Lammy said Labour would “not surrender the hope of two states living side-by-side.”
Since becoming Labour leader, Starmer has tried to signal a radical break with Corbyn’s time at the top.
Starmer removed the Labour whip from Corbyn over his response to a damning report on the party’s handling of antisemitism complaints.
And he sacked his one-time leadership rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, after she shared an article containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
This clown is a well-known anti-semitic.
Still incomprehensible for me how the British labour party thought that it was a good idea to have this guy as PM candidate in two parliamentary elections.
His only achievement has been keeping the Tories in power due to his fucked up foreign policy views.
I did enjoy the years on reddit where pointing out that Corbyn was obviously an idiot resulted in you being called fasicst; racist and many other slurs.
Israel ended the occupation of Gaza in 2005. That only gave Hamas the room to start various wars.
What a dilemma, I want to downvote anything Corbyn to oblivion but I also want to thank OP for posting this to the masses. Take my begrudging upvote, OP
Gfd, are there any sane leftists left in Europe?…
Jeremy, the cold war called, it says the General Secretary is telling you to shut the fuck up for once.
Wow… Hamas kills 260 unarmed civilians visiting a music festival (and many other civilians) and all he comes up with is “end the occupation”? Pathetic.
So Jeremy Corbyn declines to condemn the rape of teenagers, and the abduction and killing of British nationals and 84 year-old Holocaust survivors?
He’s an antisemite terrorist supporter.
You can have various views as this is obviously a complex topic, but you’re wrong in the head if you struggle to condemn an organization after it brutally murdered hundreds of civilians and keeps bragging about it.
When Israel is done there wont be much left to occupy so he probably will get his wish granted.
Wait, what was his stance about russian invasion of Ukraine?
Tankies gotta tank.
Sir, Israel was not the one who murdered European citizens in a freaking festival, tortured and paraded the corpse of our fellow German citizen on the streets.
Hamas are the barbaric terrorist that should be condemned by any sane human.
As a leftist, I will never understand why western leftists have such horrible foreign policy takes.
But he did condemn it, it says so in the article.
Tbh I watched the video, the man did condemn the violence.
Huh, I thought the charges of antisemitism against him were blown out of proportions, but I guess this proves me wrong. Completely whack, imagine hordes of religious fascists invading loading, randomly killing and raping civilians and jeering over their dead bodys like retarded babbons flinging shit at each other, and then somebody comes along and tells the Brits it’s their fault.
Not speaking out against Hamas makes this guy persona non grata. One might ask why the fuck does he stick to a terrorist organisation, that has never seeked a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Seems like there’s some truth to the antisemitism rumours in Labour.
Well i agree in half, he should also condemn attack
I will never ever understand the left’s obsession with Islamic barbarians. They are against *everything* they supposedly fight for.
First siding with Russia, now siding with Palestine. The left (all across Europe) is morally bankrupt.
[deleted]
This should not come as a surprise for a man who described himself as a ‘Friend of Hamas’
Whatever your opinion on his choice of words and context and his stance on the situation at large, it is not true to say he refused to condemn Hamas, they quote him doing so in the article he just chose not to say the phrase ” I condemn to the actions of Hamas”. Basically yet another time Corbyn refused to use any tact whatsoever to avoid his words being twisted against him in obvious and easily avoided ways
He’s not wrong except not condemning an obviously terrorist act.
I pity Keir Starmer at the moment trying to keep the lid on the anti semitism in the Labour party at their conference. A lot of Corbyn supporters still in Labour. Someone is bound to say or do something stupid and remind everyone that the left in the UK often harbor anti semitism.
29 comments
Former Labour leader draws flak for saying ‘ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace.’
Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party, defended his decision not to condemn Hamas in the wake of deadly attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group.
Corbyn — who led the party from 2015-2019 but is no longer allowed to sit as a Labour MP — drew flak over the weekend after issuing a statement which did not directly condemn the Hamas militants who killed hundreds of Israelis and took numerous captives in the latest round of bloodshed.
The row has once again demonstrated splits on Middle East policy in Labour, which hopes to form the next British government.
In his weekend statement, posted on Twitter, Corbyn described events in Israel and Palestine as “deeply alarming,” and called for “an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation.”
Referencing Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza, Corbyn said “ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace.”
That prompted immediate criticism from Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, who attacked Corbyn for once describing Hamas representatives as his “friends” — and said the militant group was “murdering children and taking civilian hostages.”
Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands stepped up the attack, writing to Labour’s current leader, Keir Starmer, and urging him to take action against Corbyn, who has already been booted out of the party over an earlier row.
But, speaking on the fringes of Labour’s conference Sunday night, Corbyn — a lifelong Palestinian rights campaigner who has launched a “Peace and Justice” project since leaving post — sought to justify his stance.
“You don’t just condemn, as I do, any acts of violence anywhere around the world,” he told an event organized by the left-wing Momentum group.
“You look at the causes as well, you look at the causes of the wars … in Yemen, in Ukraine, and the current terrible situation in Israel and Palestine. The way to end that, I think, is to end the occupation in Palestine, by Israel.”
Lammy: Never a justification for terror
The comments from Labour’s former leader drew a sharp contrast with the official line from the party.
Addressing the Liverpool conference on Monday morning, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Labour “utterly condemns Hamas’s appalling attack on Israel.”
He added: “There is never, never a justification for terrorism. Labour stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect its civilians.”
While rowing in firmly behind Israel Lammy said Labour would “not surrender the hope of two states living side-by-side.”
Since becoming Labour leader, Starmer has tried to signal a radical break with Corbyn’s time at the top.
Starmer removed the Labour whip from Corbyn over his response to a damning report on the party’s handling of antisemitism complaints.
And he sacked his one-time leadership rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, after she shared an article containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
This clown is a well-known anti-semitic.
Still incomprehensible for me how the British labour party thought that it was a good idea to have this guy as PM candidate in two parliamentary elections.
His only achievement has been keeping the Tories in power due to his fucked up foreign policy views.
I did enjoy the years on reddit where pointing out that Corbyn was obviously an idiot resulted in you being called fasicst; racist and many other slurs.
Israel ended the occupation of Gaza in 2005. That only gave Hamas the room to start various wars.
What a dilemma, I want to downvote anything Corbyn to oblivion but I also want to thank OP for posting this to the masses. Take my begrudging upvote, OP
Gfd, are there any sane leftists left in Europe?…
Jeremy, the cold war called, it says the General Secretary is telling you to shut the fuck up for once.
Wow… Hamas kills 260 unarmed civilians visiting a music festival (and many other civilians) and all he comes up with is “end the occupation”? Pathetic.
So Jeremy Corbyn declines to condemn the rape of teenagers, and the abduction and killing of British nationals and 84 year-old Holocaust survivors?
He’s an antisemite terrorist supporter.
You can have various views as this is obviously a complex topic, but you’re wrong in the head if you struggle to condemn an organization after it brutally murdered hundreds of civilians and keeps bragging about it.
When Israel is done there wont be much left to occupy so he probably will get his wish granted.
Wait, what was his stance about russian invasion of Ukraine?
Tankies gotta tank.
Sir, Israel was not the one who murdered European citizens in a freaking festival, tortured and paraded the corpse of our fellow German citizen on the streets.
Hamas are the barbaric terrorist that should be condemned by any sane human.
As a leftist, I will never understand why western leftists have such horrible foreign policy takes.
But he did condemn it, it says so in the article.
Tbh I watched the video, the man did condemn the violence.
Huh, I thought the charges of antisemitism against him were blown out of proportions, but I guess this proves me wrong. Completely whack, imagine hordes of religious fascists invading loading, randomly killing and raping civilians and jeering over their dead bodys like retarded babbons flinging shit at each other, and then somebody comes along and tells the Brits it’s their fault.
Not speaking out against Hamas makes this guy persona non grata. One might ask why the fuck does he stick to a terrorist organisation, that has never seeked a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Seems like there’s some truth to the antisemitism rumours in Labour.
Well i agree in half, he should also condemn attack
I will never ever understand the left’s obsession with Islamic barbarians. They are against *everything* they supposedly fight for.
First siding with Russia, now siding with Palestine. The left (all across Europe) is morally bankrupt.
[deleted]
This should not come as a surprise for a man who described himself as a ‘Friend of Hamas’
Whatever your opinion on his choice of words and context and his stance on the situation at large, it is not true to say he refused to condemn Hamas, they quote him doing so in the article he just chose not to say the phrase ” I condemn to the actions of Hamas”. Basically yet another time Corbyn refused to use any tact whatsoever to avoid his words being twisted against him in obvious and easily avoided ways
He’s not wrong except not condemning an obviously terrorist act.
I pity Keir Starmer at the moment trying to keep the lid on the anti semitism in the Labour party at their conference. A lot of Corbyn supporters still in Labour. Someone is bound to say or do something stupid and remind everyone that the left in the UK often harbor anti semitism.