Jeremy Corbyn has described Hamas as a “terrorist group” in a magazine article after repeatedly refusing to use the term in a television interview earlier this week.
The former Labour leader has written an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of “acts of terror too”, arguing that the comparison was necessary because Israel had killed thousands of children in strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s attacks.
His opinion piece in the leftwing Tribune magazine comes a day after the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, said Corbyn’s “days as a Labour MP” were over after the MP had repeatedly declined to call Hamas a terrorist organisation in an interview with Piers Morgan.
Corbyn wrote that he “deplore[d] the targeting of all civilians”, including Hamas’s killing of about 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October.
The MP for Islington North added: “If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group.
“The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.
“We should not entertain questions from those who have no interest in applying this basic consistency.”
Hamas is designated as a terror group in the UK, as well as in the US and the EU, and support for them is banned.
More than 11,400 Palestinians have been killed in the war, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Corbyn avoided giving a direct answer when repeatedly asked whether Hamas is a terror group by Morgan on his TalkTV show on Monday.
In his Tribune article, he wrote: “Ultimately, we do not just have a responsibility to end the bloodshed.
“We have a responsibility to stop bloodthirsty voices from dictating the terms of debate, and to push back against cynical attempts to distract us from our urgent goal: bringing about an immediate ceasefire.”
Starmer, who had already stripped Corbyn of the whip in 2020 over his response to the equalities watchdog report on antisemitism in the party during his tenure as leader, had said his predecessor would not stand as a Labour MP at a future election after his refusal to call Hamas a terrorist group.
The Labour leader told the News Agents podcast: “He won’t stand as a Labour MP at the next election or any election.
“His days as a Labour MP are over. We have a changed party.”
