Jeremy Corbyn tries to draw line under Palestine wreath row with fresh denial
The Labour leader's office says he "did not lay any wreath at the graves" of anyone accused of involvement in the Munich massacre.
Thursday 16 August 2018 10:14, UK
Jeremy Corbyn has sought to draw a line under a row over wreaths laid at a memorial for Palestinians, issuing a fresh denial that he paid tribute to suspected terrorists.
His office has said he "did not lay any wreath at the graves" of anyone accused of being behind the 1972 Munich massacre.
It is the first explicit denial of this since new pictures emerged in the Daily Mail, showing Mr Corbyn holding a wreath reportedly standing near the graves of suspected terrorists linked to the attack.
The Labour leader has also reiterated his condemnation of the "appalling" attack in Germany, which saw 11 Israeli athletes and a police officer killed.
Earlier in the week, Mr Corbyn did not rule out laying a wreath to the suspected terrorists at the 2014 ceremony in Tunisia.
On Monday, he said: "I was present when it was laid, I don't think I was actually involved in it", adding he was there to remember victims of an airstrike on a Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) base in 1985.
Pressed again on Tuesday to deny laying a wreath to suspected Black September terrorists who Israel alleges masterminded the Munich attack, Mr Corbyn said: "It was laid on the graves of all those that had died."
The row was re-ignited last week despite Mr Corbyn telling Sky News in May 2017, when the allegations had first emerged, that he had "absolutely not" honoured them.
Speaking on a visit to Corby on Wednesday, Mr Corbyn tried to draw a line under the latest row by assuaging Ankie Spitzer, a woman whose husband was killed in the attack.
She had called on him to "apologise to the victims of terror" so they could be properly honoured.
Mr Corbyn declined to but said instead: "What happened in Munich was a disgrace and appalling and all of us condemned it at that time.
"I laid a wreath on behalf of many of us who were worried and concerned at the number of people - civilians, children - who were killed when Israel attacked the PLO centre and houses around it in 1985."
He added: "An attack that was condemned by the British government of the time - prime minister Margaret Thatcher - condemned by the US government, condemned by the UN Security Council.
"I have every sympathy for all those who lost lives anywhere - be it Munich, be it Tunis or be it anywhere else. The way forward has to be peace through dialogue."
Mr Corbyn has been reported to Parliament's standards watchdog, accused of failing to declare the trip he took in 2014.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen made the complaint, alleging "a serious breach" of Commons rules and demanding an investigation.
Mr Corbyn said he did not declare the trip because it was under the £660 threshold needed for MPs to declare in the Register of Members' Interests.
Meanwhile, former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has said Mr Corbyn "has got to change" to address wider concerns over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
The former prime minister said the issue was a "running sore" that had to be dealt with immediately because it was "simply wrong".
Speaking at a book event in Edinburgh, Mr Brown said: "We have a problem within the Labour Party with anti-Semitism and it has got to be dealt with.
Mr Brown continued: "This cannot keep going on as a running sore and it's not because it's an embarrassment, it is because it is simply wrong.
"The persecution that has been suffered by the Jewish community must never be forgotten. It is something that has got to be remembered every time we see vicious actions and discrimination and prejudice in different communities around the world."