Jeremy Corbyn apologises after posing for picture with neo-Nazi antisemite
Jeremy Corbyn cosying up to Hans Jørgen Johansen
Hans Jørgen Johansen/Facebook
Jeremy Corbyn has taken to Twitter to apologise after it came to light that he had posed for a selfie with a Holocaust denying Norwegian neo-Nazi politician.
Hans Jørgen Johansen, the founder and leader of the Alliance Alternative political party, proudly posted the Corbyn selfie with the caption “Jeremy Corbyn, a good man speaking the truth.”
Norwegian police announced they were investigating Johansen for hate speech in December 2018, after concerns were raised over the Alliance Alternative leader’s apparent Holocaust denial, antisemitism and support for the 2011 Norway terror attacks conducted by Anders Behring Breivik.
Johansen is reported by Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen as having said this about The Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minority Studies: "We have to take this settlement up front with the Jews now.
Hans Jørgen Johansen founded his political party in November 2016
Hans Jørgen Johansen/Facebook
"We've had enough. I myself am very sorry that the Jews will be allowed to push this false holocaust narrative.”
Prompted for an explanation from Twitter user Jack Lewis, Jeremy Corbyn responded: “I am approached for selfies on a daily basis from strangers. I had no idea who know who [sic] this individual was. Naturally, I condemn his abhorrent politics in the strongest possible terms.”
Jack Lewis responded: “As Jeremy rightly says, it's not like he's meant to know the ideologies of everyone who approaches him and I'm glad he's been gracious enough to reply and explain, I just hope this doesn't happen again in future.”
It is not the first time Corbyn has landed himself in hot water for ill-advised photo companion choices.
Corbyn: "I was present at that wreath-laying, I don't think I was actually involved in it."
Palestinian Embassy in Tunis/Facebook
Corbyn previously faced backlash when photos emerged of a visit to Hamman Chott Cemetery in Tunis in 2014, where Corbyn attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the graves of Palestinian activists including Salah Khalaf and Atef Bseiso.
These men were both members of the Black September militant group that carried out the Munich massacre of 17 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in 1972.
The former Leader of the Opposition has also been condemned for making the four-fingered Rabb’iah salute of Islamist organisation the Muslim Brotherhood during a visit to Finsbury Park mosque.
A transnational Sunni Islamist organisation founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was labelled in a 2015 British government report as “counter to British values and democracy.”
Corbyn in Finsbury Park
Its primary backers in Qatar and Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood is considered a terrorist organisation by Bahrain, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The UK has not designated Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
In February 2013, Corbyn and his wife travelled to Gaza thanks to a £2,800 gift from Interpal, a British charity banned by the US government as “part of the funding network of Hamas” and as a terrorist organisation in its own right.
Corbyn has also been pictured a few times with Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Féin who in the past has expressed support for the IRA and sees Corbyn as a “comrade” that he publicly endorsed to be an “outstanding” Prime Minister.
Despite consistently reiterating that he condemns the bloodshed on both sides, Corbyn has faced widespread scrutiny over the years for his links to Féin and Irish Republicans during The Troubles.