(JTA) — The new leader of Britain’s Labor party who has been accused of tolerating anti-Semitism said he has some Jewish ancestry.

Jeremy Corbyn told The Church Times that while his immediate family is Christian, he has a “Jewish element” in his background, the United Kingdom’s Jewish News reported.

In the interview with the Christian publication, he described himself as “not anti-religious at all,” adding, “I go to churches, I go to mosques, I go to temples, I go to synagogues. I find religion very interesting. I find the power of faith very interesting.”

Corbyn’s election earlier this month has generated unprecedented concern in British Jewry’s ranks, where many resent his Israel-critical views and endorsement of anti-Semitic enemies of the Jewish state, including Islamist militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

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