Labour anti-Semitism row: Jeremy Corbyn under fresh pressure after Jewdas meeting

Criticism: Jeremy Corbyn faced a backlash after attending the event
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Jeremy Corbyn today came under growing pressure to attend events by mainstream Jewish organisations after facing criticism for going to one staged by a radical group.

John Mann, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, said: “Mainstream Jewish groups should invite the Labour leader to their events and I think he should accept their invitations.”

He issued the plea after Mr Corbyn was criticised after he attended a meeting of the left-wing group Jewdas, which has criticised mainstream Jewish organisations’ protests over alleged anti-Semitism in his party.

Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies, asked how the Labour leader’s commitment to be “an ally against anti-Semitism” could be taken seriously after attending the controversial event at which it is alleged an anti-police chant was sung.

Mr Corbyn said the Seder feast, a celebration of Passover. was “very interesting” and involved “talking to a lot of young people about their experiences of modern Britain”.

A Labour source stressed that he wrote to the Board of Deputies and to the Jewish Leadership Council last night again requesting an urgent meeting to discuss tackling anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and wider society.

A Jewdas source said: “We do not believe accusations of anti-semitism in Labour and the left are nothing more than smears. We have questioned the Jewish establishment’s cherry-picking of antisemitic incidents to suit their agenda.”

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