Today, he acknowledged that a wreath had also been laid to "those that were killed in Paris in 1992." PLO official Atef Bseiso, whom Israel has accused of helping to plan the Munich Olympic attack, was gunned down outside a Paris hotel that year.
"I was present when it was laid. I don't think I was actually involved in it," Corbyn told reporters. "I was there because I wanted to see a fitting memorial to everyone who has died in every terrorist incident everywhere because we have to end it."
The statement is unlikely to quell criticism from Jewish groups and Labour members who say Corbyn has allowed anti-Semitism to spread in the party.
"Being 'present' is the same as being involved," said Labour MP Luciana Berger. "Where is the apology?"
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that "the laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorist who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone — left, right and everything in between."
Corbyn has been accused of failing to expel party members who express anti-Semitic views and has received personal criticism for past statements, including a 2010 speech in which he compared Israel's blockade of Gaza to Nazi Germany's sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad during World War II.
The dispute recently boiled over after the party proposed adopting a definition of anti-Semitism that differed from the one approved by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Labour's version omits some of the alliance's language around criticism of Israel. The alliance's definition says it is anti-Semitic to compare contemporary Israeli policies to the policies of the Nazis, a view Labour did not endorse.
Corbyn said Labour was consulting with Jewish groups on the party's definition of anti-Semitism.
He said it was important to ensure "you can discuss and debate the relations between Israel and Palestine, the future of the peace process and, yes, make criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government in the bombing of Gaza and other places."
"But you can never make those criticisms using anti-Semitic language or anti-Semitic intentions, and that is what we are absolutely clear on," Corbyn said.
- AP
