Chief Rabbi’s attack on Jeremy Corbyn does not reflect the views of Leeds’ Jewish community: Yorkshire Post Letters

The Chief Rabbi has warned that the soul of the nation is at stake if Jeremy Corbyn wins power.

THE words of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis are unhelpful to the Jewish community in the UK and to Israel as a country, and they are damaging to community relations (The Yorkshire Post, November 27).

He certainly does not reflect the views of the Jewish community in Leeds and it is clear that his knowledge of the Jewish community on the ground is limited. As a member of the Labour party all my adult life, first elected a Labour councillor at the age of 21 and an MEP for Leeds for 15 years and member of the European Parliament’s delegation for Israel, the Jewish community of Leeds has always enriched my personal and political life.

I have known Jeremy Corbyn since 1985 when we were both part of the launch of the European refugee support network for the refugees from the Western Sahara and his opposition to all forms of racism and support for refugees, peace, and human rights is a matter of record.

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Rabbi Mirvis is entitled to his own conservative views of banning female rabbis and same-sex marriages but to claim to speak on behalf of the Jewish community is entirely a different matter and an abuse of his position as Chief Rabbi.