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Fri, 19 April 2024

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Sajid Javid says Jeremy Corbyn should quit over Munich memorial claims

Emilio Casalicchio

2 min read

Sajid Javid has urged Jeremy Corbyn to quit over claims the Labour leader laid a wreath at the graves of Palestinian terrorists thought to be involved in the Munich Massacre.


The Home Secretary said any other major party leader “would be gone by now” after the Daily Mail claimed it had proof Mr Corbyn took part in a 2014 memorial for the alleged killers.

Labour has insisted the party boss did not honour the terror leaders but was instead at a service for 47 Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike in 1985.

But the paper said its pictures show Mr Corbyn standing 15 yards from the monument to the air strike victims and in front of the graves of the alleged Black September members.

The attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics saw 11 Israeli athletes murdered by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation splinter group.

Mr Javid said: “If this was the leader of any other major political party, he or she would be gone by now.”

Meanwhile, widows of two of the murdered athletes said they were “extremely disturbed” by the claims of Mr Corbyn’s visit.

Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano told the Jewish News: “We do not recall a visit of Mr Corbyn to the graves of our murdered fathers, sons and husbands.

“They only went to the Olympic Games in order to participate in this festival of love, peace and brotherhood but they all returned home in coffins.”

A Labour spokesperson said: "The Munich widows are being misled. Jeremy did not honour those responsible for the Munich killings.

"He and other Parliamentarians went to the Palestinian cemetery in Tunisia to remember the victims of the 1985 Israeli bombing of the PLO headquarters, many of whom were civilians."

It comes as pressure grows on Mr Corbyn to fully adopt an internationally-recognised definition of anti-Semitism to the Labour code of conduct.

The party has argued four examples in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition could stifle criticism of Israel.

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