Jeremy Corbyn Declares “Absolute Opposition to Zionism” in Radical Speech, Deepening Rift with British Jews and Mainstream Politics

By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

Former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reignited long-standing controversy over his stance on Israel and Zionism after declaring his “absolute opposition to Zionism” during a Your Party meeting held Sunday in Wandsworth, southwest London. The remarks, first reported by British Jewish News and later amplified by Israel National News, have sent shockwaves through the United Kingdom’s Jewish community and reignited debate over the enduring strain of antisemitism within Corbyn’s political orbit.

The gathering, attended by activists and supporters of Corbyn’s newly founded Your Party, saw the former opposition leader align himself fully with co-founder Zarah Sultana, the far-left MP who has gained notoriety for her anti-Israel rhetoric and ties to groups hostile to the Jewish state.

According to the report on Wednesday at Israel National News, Corbyn used the platform to deliver what has been widely interpreted as one of his most uncompromising denunciations of Israel and Zionism to date, invoking historical revisionism and inflammatory rhetoric to condemn what he called “the Greater Israel project.”

“The whole Zionist project was about expanding Israel forevermore, which is exactly what Netanyahu is doing with the Greater Israel project,” Corbyn told the audience. “So, yes — absolute opposition to Zionism, and absolute solidarity with the people of Palestine.”

As the Israel National News report observed, Corbyn’s comments represent a significant escalation from his previous, more ambiguous criticisms of Israel. While his opposition to Israeli policy has long been known, the phrase “absolute opposition to Zionism” situates him ideologically with the most extreme anti-Israel factions in British and European politics — including elements that Jewish watchdog groups have identified as openly antisemitic.

In his remarks, Corbyn described Zionism not as a movement for Jewish self-determination, but as an “imperial creation,” claiming it emerged in tandem with British colonial policy. “I was reading about the imperial history of Zionism — actually, it first reared its head in the late 19th century, with US Zionism in 1840, influenced by British policy in the Middle East,” he said.

The assertion, swiftly condemned by Jewish historians as a gross distortion of historical fact, mirrors long-standing antisemitic conspiracy narratives portraying Zionism as a colonial scheme rather than a legitimate national liberation movement.

According to the information provided in the Israel National News report, the audience responded with applause, and one female activist thanked Corbyn for his “clarity” on the party’s stance toward Zionism — a stance now indistinguishable from the rhetoric of organizations that have been banned or investigated for antisemitic activity in the UK.

Corbyn continued by referring to the war in Gaza as a “genocide,” a term rejected by both the UK Foreign Office and the Israeli government. He pledged that Your Party — the fledgling political vehicle he co-founded with Zarah Sultana after both broke from Labour — would “be guided by the Palestinian people” in its foreign policy positions.

“And now we have the genocide, and it is a genocide in Gaza,” he declared. “We in Your Party are absolutely in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and will be guided by them on the policies we develop and the direction we take going forward.”

As Israel National News reported, Sultana — who chairs the Socialist Campaign Group and has accused Britain of “complicity in genocide” for supplying arms to Israel — has long been a vocal proponent of ending all UK military and commercial cooperation with Jerusalem. She previously introduced a bill in Parliament calling for an immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel, arguing that British weapons were being used “to kill Palestinian children.”

Sultana has also openly endorsed Palestine Action, a radical organization that has vandalized factories linked to Israeli defense contractors and was recently designated as a terrorist entity under UK law. Despite widespread condemnation, Sultana has continued to defend the group as “a legitimate expression of resistance.”

The Israel National News report highlighted that Corbyn’s embrace of Sultana’s rhetoric marks a clear strategic alignment with the far-left’s most anti-Israel voices — a move likely to alienate moderate voters and deepen the rift between his movement and Britain’s Jewish population.

Corbyn’s reemergence on the political stage comes nearly five years after his resignation as Labour Party leader, following the party’s most catastrophic election defeat since 1935. His leadership tenure (2015–2020) was marred by widespread allegations of antisemitism, prompting an investigation by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The EHRC’s damning 2020 report found that Corbyn’s leadership “fostered an environment in which antisemitism could flourish,” documenting multiple cases where complaints by Jewish members were ignored, dismissed, or politically interfered with to protect Corbyn’s allies.

As the Israel National News report recalled, Corbyn’s refusal to take responsibility — coupled with his inflammatory past comments referring to Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends” — ignited outrage across Britain’s Jewish community. He was ultimately suspended from Labour and later barred from standing as its parliamentary candidate in future elections.

Despite these events, Corbyn has remained defiant, continuing to frame himself as a victim of what he calls a “smear campaign orchestrated by the Israel lobby.” His latest remarks in Wandsworth appear to reaffirm that belief system, casting Zionism as an imperial project and its supporters as complicit in global oppression.

Reaction from British Jewish leaders was swift and severe. The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement calling Corbyn’s words “a naked expression of antisemitism,” while community leaders warned that his rhetoric risks further emboldening extremists.

The Israel National News report quoted several Jewish commentators who noted that Corbyn’s remarks are not merely political but existential in nature — rejecting the very legitimacy of Jewish statehood. “To declare ‘absolute opposition to Zionism’ is to deny Jews the same right to national self-determination afforded to every other people,” one commentator said. “This is not progressivism — it’s prejudice disguised as principle.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also condemned Corbyn’s statement, asserting that his remarks “lay bare what Jewish people have known for years — that his opposition to Israel is rooted not in policy, but in hatred.”

Even within Your Party, Corbyn’s words have exposed deep fissures. Sultana had previously accused him of “capitulating to the IHRA definition of antisemitism” during his Labour tenure, implying that his past caution toward the Jewish community represented weakness. Now, with his Wandsworth declaration, Corbyn appears to have cast aside any restraint, embracing a totalizing anti-Zionism that aligns him more closely with radical movements than with Britain’s parliamentary left.

Once the most powerful figure in British progressive politics, Corbyn’s transformation into a political outcast has been as dramatic as it has been polarizing. Banned from standing as a Labour candidate, he ran as an independent in the most recent election — and though he retained a modest following among hard-left activists, his national influence has waned considerably.

As the Israel National News report noted, Corbyn’s new vehicle, Your Party, has attracted a small but fervent base of socialist organizers and anti-war campaigners, many of whom view Gaza as the defining moral issue of their generation. Yet, political analysts caution that its uncompromising ideology — particularly its explicit anti-Zionism — ensures it will remain on the fringes of British politics.

In the United States and Israel, Corbyn’s latest statements have also drawn condemnation. Israeli officials told Israel National News that “Corbyn’s rhetoric continues to blur the line between political criticism and the dehumanization of Jews.” One diplomatic source added, “The obsession with Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, rather than with specific policies, reveals the underlying bias.”

Corbyn’s reference to “reading about the imperial history of Zionism” and his claim that Zionism began in 1840 as a U.S.-British creation echo familiar antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and colonialism. Scholars cited in the Israel National News report noted that such arguments have no basis in historical fact — Zionism as an organized movement arose in the late 19th century as a response to pervasive antisemitic persecution in Europe, not as a tool of Western empire.

Nonetheless, by framing Zionism as imperialism and Gaza as genocide, Corbyn and Sultana have sought to repackage traditional antisemitic narratives within the language of contemporary human rights discourse. As the Israel National News report observed, “This rhetorical strategy allows anti-Israel activists to present themselves as moral crusaders while erasing the Jewish people’s historical connection to their ancestral homeland.”

Jeremy Corbyn’s declaration of “absolute opposition to Zionism” marks a defining moment in his descent from political relevance to ideological extremism. It exposes how far Britain’s radical left has drifted from the principles of coexistence and tolerance once central to the Labour tradition — and how anti-Zionism, in its most virulent forms, continues to serve as a socially acceptable guise for antisemitism.

As the Israel National News report noted, “Corbyn’s rhetoric is not merely an assault on Israel — it is an assault on historical truth, on Jewish identity, and on the moral foundations of progressive politics itself.”

In aligning himself with those who vilify Israel as a “colonial project” and praise violent resistance as “solidarity,” Corbyn has once again chosen confrontation over conscience — and in doing so, he has reminded the world why his leadership, and now his movement, will forever remain shadowed by the stain of hate masquerading as justice.