Corbyn has consistently condemned violence on all sides. If you read the Tribune alluded to in the Guardian piece (and other pieces he has had published in Tribune and elsewhere, you will see that it is very much in line with his principles.
In the
Tribune article mentioned he writes:
"I deplore the targeting of all civilians.
That includes Hamas’ attack on 7 October, which I have repeatedly condemned in Parliament, in print and and at every demonstration that I have attended. And that includes that Israeli response; there is no meaningful sense that the Israeli army is avoiding civilian casualties when it drops 25,000 tonnes of bombs onto a tiny strip of land populated by 2.2 million people. If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group. The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence."
In an earlier
Tribune piece, he writes:
"In July 2023, I spoke in Parliament after the Israeli Defence Force conducted their largest military operation on the West Bank since 2002. Their target was Jenin refugee camp, home to more than 14,000 people, living in less than half a square kilometre in size. In a space this densely populated, there is no such thing as targeted strikes. 12 Palestinians were killed, including 5 children, and more than 100 were injured.
I pleaded with MPs on both sides of the House to consider not just the immediate human cost of this attack, but the chain reaction of misery and terror that it would unleash."
That proved quite priscient didn't it?
In an
Al Jazeera article Corbyn talks about his visit to Al-Shati refugee camp (otherwise known as “Beach Camp) in 2013.
"Beach Camp was established in 1948 after 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the Nakba. Initially, the camp accommodated around 23,000 refugees. In the following seven decades, that number grew to 90,000, cramped inside 0.5 square kilometres (0.2 square miles) of land – 70 times more populated than London’s city centre."
"On October 9, two days after the deplorable attack by Hamas in southern Israel, there were reports of an Israeli air strike on Beach Camp. This wasn’t the first strike on the camp. In May 2021, at least 10 Palestinians, eight of whom were children, were killed in an air strike. Nor was it the last. Beach Camp has been repeatedly targeted in the past three weeks.
When I hear news of bombardment in Gaza, I think about that school at Beach Camp. I don’t know if it is still there. I don’t know if those children and teachers are still alive. I don’t know.
The Israeli army has dropped 25,000 tonnes of bombs onto a tiny strip of land, populated by 2.3 million people. There is no meaningful sense whatsoever that they are trying to avoid civilian deaths. More than 9,900 people in Gaza have been killed, including more than 4,800 children."
"The attack by Hamas, which killed 1,400 Israelis and took 200 hostages, was utterly appalling and must be condemned. The victims and hostages are young people who wanted to listen to music. They are nieces and nephews. They are jewellery designers. They are factory workers. They are peace campaigners. The pain and anguish that their families feel will last forever."
If I feel the need to defend Jeremy Corbyn it is because despite what the media are painting him, he is the only prominent Politician who has been right on point throughout this whole mess. The Guardian article that you linked mentions Starmer's statement that JC's time as a Labour MP is over because of his failure to call Hamas a terrorist organisation Incidentally,that second Tribune piece of Corbyn's is entitled
“I Condemn Violence Against All Civilians, Why Can’t Keir Starmer?”
This is a pertinent question. Has Starmer condemned Israel as an Apartheid state or a terrorist state? No, he hasn't.
Does this, by the standards that he himself defines, make him unfit to be leader of the Labour Party?
www.theguardian.com
