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Jeremy Corbyn: His Views on the Middle East

Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party?

By Nicholas BishopPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Jeremy Corbyn standing up to Saudi Arabia

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is making a stand against the Saudi Arabian regime and its conduct of the war in Yemen, as opposed to the Theresa May government, who is selling arms to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and these weapons are being used in Saudi's war in Yemen.

Jeremy Corbyn has said that the British government should not be giving aid to Saudi Arabia and be selling high-tech weapons. The Saudis have been accused of bombing Houthi targets out of all proportion and innocent civilians are often the victims of this.

Of course, both sides the government in exile supported by Saudi Arabia and the Houthis supported allegedly by the rival power in the region — Iran is guilty of war crimes.

The war in Yemen has become the forgotten war when all the focus has been on the war in Syria and Iraq, also Afghanistan. Whole areas of the nation of Yemen have been decimated by the war with disease rife in many places.

Hospitals in the Houthi controlled area of Yemen are running out of supplies and do what they can to make to make their patients comfortable.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are rival nations in the Middle East and back different sides in the wars currently brewing in the Middle East. Going back to the Yemen conflict, Jeremy Corbyn has said only a political process will be enough to bring this terrible war to an end. Of course how that is achieved is another thing, especially when you have two nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia who absolutely loathe one another. They are both Theocratic Islamic nations but one is Shia (Iran) and the other Sunni (Saudi). Both versions of Islam have been rival ideologies since the death of the Prophet Mohammed.

The Arab League, meanwhile, has refused to run their usual annual reception and buffet dinner at the Labour Party Conference this year, citing Corbyn's opposition to the Saudi regime and its use of high-tech weapons sold to it by western nations like the UK in its war in Yemen.

The Labour Party Conference will shortly commence in Brighton. Jeremy Corbyn, down the 30 years he was a backbencher, as always, stated his interest in Middle East affairs. He has always been very pro-Palestinian and supports the idea of a Palestinian state. This has led to some Zionist groups calling him an anti-Semite and to be fair, I can see why they would say this. With statements like Hamas being his friends and seeming support for Hezbollah, however, Corbyn has condemned racism in the Labour party.

Naz Shah, a Muslim MP for the north England, was suspended from the party for allegedly illustrating a posting on social media which seemed to express anti-Semitism. The posting said that Israel should be moved to the USA as there is enough space there for a Jewish state and the Palestinians should occupy the land that is now Israel. Corbyn was quick to act and suspend Naz Shah as also he acted against Ken Livingston for alleged anti-Semitism.

It seems though he has rowed back from a purely pro-Palestinian standpoint and accepts the notion of two states sharing a common border and security. Whether since becoming Labour leader he has to be more right down the middle on this issue or he has been forced to change his position, I cannot say.

Jeremy Corbyn is perhaps a conundrum because although it appears the two-state solution is now official Labour party policy, is it? For example, he agreed with the collusion of his shadow cabinet of ministers that under a Labour government, the UK would keep Trident. However, when appearing at the Glastonbury music festival this year he seemed to contradict himself speaking to music fans.

Going back to his Saudi standpoint regarding the regime and its war in Yemen, Corbyn is right to speak out. Whether this would be official Labour policy to the Saudis when in government is something we will have to wait and see.

politicians
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About the Creator

Nicholas Bishop

I am a freelance writer currently writing for Blasting News and HubPages. I mainly write about politics. But have and will cover all subjects when the need arises.

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