Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl has condemned former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s statement made today and called on the Labour Party to reject it.

Marie said:  “The Jewish community does not accept this pathetic non-apology from Jeremy Corbyn. Keir Starmer rightly called the day of the release of the EHRC report a “day of shame”. Jeremy Corbyn’s response, by contrast, was shameless. Keir Starmer said, “Those who deny there is a problem are part of the problem. Those who pretend it is exaggerated or factional are part of the problem”. Yet Jeremy Corbyn questioned the findings of the report which showed that, under his watch, the Party had acted unlawfully in respect of its treatment of Jews. If the Party wants to show it is serious about tackling anti-Jewish racism, it will consign this statement, just like the culture which led to the EHRC’s damning findings, to the dustbin of history. To do otherwise would be a failure of leadership which would risk the Party slipping backwards.”

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Mr Corbyn’s statement today seeks to recast his comments gaslighting the Jewish community when the EHRC’s report into Labour antisemitism was released. This is a desperate attempt to have his suspension lifted and reveals that he still believes that suspensions are something that happen on the whim of the Leader as it did during his tenure, and not as a result of any due process. If the Labour Party wants to build on the positive step of suspending Mr Corbyn, it must investigate the entirety of our complaint against him under the independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has mandated, and do so within six months. Reinstating Mr Corbyn now would only show that Labour is not serious about tackling antisemitism, or is incapable of doing so.”