A Jewish former Labour MP, who quit the party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, has urged people to watch videos of the “horrific and brutal” treatment of Israelis at the hands of Hamas.
Luciana Berger – who left Labour amid the antisemitism row within the party, but re-joined earlier this year – told Sky News’ Politics Hub programme that it was “very, very difficult” to see the unfolding scenes, calling it “the greatest attack on the Jewish community” since the “end of the Holocaust”.
But she encouraged the public to watch the videos coming from the area to see what was happening for themselves.
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“There are so many things that have been put on social media by the Hamas terrorists, the perpetrators of these horrific acts, that people wouldn’t have even seen because they are so brutal,” she told Sophy Ridge. “We can’t broadcast them on our television screens.
“A lot of it is on various social media outlets and I urge people to have a look at how horrific and brutal it is and to see the scenes of people who had gone to… a peaceful music festival.”
Sophy Ridge interview with Luciana Berger
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Describing the scene where at least 260 young people were “gunned down” by Hamas militants, Ms Berger added: “That would be equivalent to 2,000 people at Glastonbury being gunned down. I mean, it just doesn’t bear thinking about.”
The ex-MP for Wavertree also warned of the impact closer to home and on the Jewish community in the UK.
“I live in north London,” she said. “Just down the road from where I live last night, a kosher eatery that I go to for my takeaway was vandalised and graffiti was put in the bridge just above it.”
She added: “My children go to Jewish schools and there’s a lot of concern around the safety of whether it’s young Jewish people or people going about the Jewish way of life going to synagogues.”
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Ms Berger also criticised former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who told journalists outside this week’s Labour conference he did not support terrorism but failed to condemn Hamas.
“He is not in any way a representative of the Labour Party when he makes those remarks and those remarks are wrong,” she said. “These are not new remarks. This is not a surprise.
“Jeremy Corbyn is unable to call out Hamas for what it is as a terrorist organisation that has engaged itself in the most brutal and horrific of attacks in the last few days. And shame on Jeremy Corbyn for not calling it out for what it is.”
Calling on people to speak out against antisemitic incidents in the UK, Ms Berger said people should “acknowledge that there can never be any justification for the sheer brutality that we’ve seen”.