Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, co-founder of Jewish Voice for Labour. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

A co-founder of the organization Jewish Voice for Labour, a far-left group created to deflect claims of antisemitism against party leader Jeremy Corbyn, recently sought to explain a Jewish person’s concerns about antisemitism by calling him “an Israel supporter.”

Since Corbyn, long noted for his hostility to Israel, became head  of Labour in 2015, the party has been wracked by antisemitism scandals, leading to the suspension or expulsion of numerous members and officials. Polls show that the overwhelming majority of British Jews consider Corbyn to be personally antisemitic.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that during an interview on the LBC radio network last Thursday, Shelagh Fogarty asked JVL co-founder Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi about comments by barrister Jeremy Brier, who had spoken of a “deep-seated and dangerous” problem with antisemitism in Labour.

Wimborne-Idrissi interrupted, saying, “Because he’s an Israel supporter. He told me so.”

Fogarty asked if Wimborne-Idrissi knew “how that sounded” and said she had “reduced a Jewish man with concerns for antisemitism in the Labour party to the word ‘Israel.’”

Wimborne-Idrissi simply repeated several times, “Antisemitism is a really serious threat.”

“It sounds antisemitic, so I’m not going to take the risk of continuing the conversation with you because I think you’re, I think you’ve just done exactly the thing that people like Jeremy [Brier] are concerned about,” Fogarty said.

“And I was giving you an opportunity to explain your position,” she added. “I gave you plenty of opportunity to explain your position and very early on in our conversation you reduced a Jewish man with concerns about the Labour party’s leadership on this issue to the nation of Israel.”