Sadiq Khan Labels Jeremy Corbyn's Comment On Jews "Unacceptable"

7 September 2018, 10:58

Sadiq Khan told LBC that Jeremy Corbyn's comment on Jews that have lived here all their lives not understanding English irony as "unacceptable".

Speaking in 2013, the Labour Leader said of unnamed Zionists in the audience: "They clearly have two problems. One is they don’t want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t understand English irony."

Those comments have been labelled anti-Semitic and the Mayor of London said that while they were unacceptable, he insists Mr Corbyn is not anti-Semitic.

On Speak To Sadiq on LBC this morning, he said: "I know Jeremy Corbyn is not racist. He's not anti-Semitic."

When James O'Brien asked him about the comments from 2013, Mr Khan said: "That was unacceptable. What I think we should welcome is that Jeremy Corbyn recognises that anti-Semites are using phrases like Zionists to describe all Jewish people."

But James pointed out: "So he's not racist and he's not anti-Semitic, but he said something that's unacceptable because it is racist and anti-Semitic."

Mr Khan clarified: "The words he said were unacceptable and that paragraph is perceived by many to be racist.

"It's right and proper that he recognises that the word Zionist has been hijacked by anti-Semites."