Opinion - Jeremy Corbyn, Accidental Anti-Semite per The New York Times

The BBC are happily pushing the Jeremy Corbyn line that he definitely not antisemitic. This New York Times article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/opinion/jeremy-corbyn-anti-semite.html reveals some inconvenient facts that the BBC and Jeremy Corbyn would rather keep under wraps.

'Corbyn also met in 2009 with Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Belgian-Lebanese activist whose Arab European League had previously published a cartoon denying the Holocaust. Corbyn initially denied ever meeting the activist, then was "reminded" by a photograph of the two of them together. "We had, I think two times, lunch or breakfast together," Abou Jahjah noted, "so I cannot say that Mr. Corbyn is a personal friend, but he is absolutely a political friend." Abou Jahjah was later banned from entering Britain.

Then there was Corbyn's association with the anti-Israel group "Deir Yassin Remembered," founded by the Holocaust denier Paul Eisen. Corbyn attended multiple meetings of the group. More recently, he has claimed that Eisen was not a Holocaust denier when he knew him.

And so it goes. Corbyn received £20,000 for appearing on Iran's English language Press TV. "I was able to raise a number of human rights issues, not just in Iran but other countries as well," he says, by way of justification. He defended then-Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer, notorious for strident anti-Zionism, against charges of anti-Semitism: "Such criticism," Corbyn wrote, "is part of a wider pattern of demonizing those who dare to stand up and speak out against Zionism." He publicly praised as "a voice that must be heard" the Islamist preacher Raed Salah, who has said Jews used gentile blood for religious purposes.'

What are the chances of the BBC reporting any of these inconvenient facts about Jeremy Corbyn's somewhat questionable history? Absolutely nil is the answer as for the BBC protecting Jeremy Corbyn is more important than fighting antisemitism. What's interesting is wondering how many people at the BBC have similar views on 'fighting' antisemitism as Jeremy Corbyn. The BBC's anti Israel attitude, as revealed by the Balen Report, like that of so many on the left of British politics links to antisemitism.