I haven't seen the interview either Paul - like you just heard a few clips (and seen the press front pages!). I have also seen a number of comments by people close to Corbyn that he should have apologised when Neil first put it to him. I don't know why he responded as he did but I suspect it was a reluctance to give full credence to the Chief Rabbi's attack. A part of the Chief Rabbi's letter to the Times is fair, but most of it is not - as Alf Dubs said so clearly. The experience is that line-drawing hasn't been effective. The more Labour concedes and apologises (when it does it for tactical reasons not because an apology is justified) the more the attacks are ramped up as happened with the IHRA definition and the feeding frenzy gets worse. It would never be 'put to bed'.
I may be wrong but I think Corbyn (and certainly many members of the shadow cabinet and NEC) have apologised in the past for the incidents of anti-semitism uncovered, but have done it in the context of a push back on some of the false or exaggerated claims that are in the media mix and feed the public perception. I have been (and still am) critical of Corbyn for a weak response to the whole situation. He avoids conflict all the time which means he has been weak in defending Labour against unjustified attacks and weak in dealing with the real cases. Some of that is because of internal processes that took time to change, but he could have been more decisive and clear in his public statements at an earlier stage. On that point I agree with the Chief Rabbi.
In my opinion Corbyn would have been slaughtered by most of the press this morning whatever he said in response to Neil on this. He either refuses to agree with the Chief Rabbi in which case he is 'in denial' or he does apologise in response to the Chief Rabbi's letter and Neil's challenge, in which case he implicitly accepts everything in the letter, no matter if he tries to qualify it later.
If you're interested the Jewish Voice For Labour has produced an election briefing note on some of the big issues and events in the anti-semitism crisis. It is swamped by the deluge of attack pieces in the national and community press but maybe some of it will get a hearing.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org...ent/rebuttals/