Israel duped by fake Twitter account of Corbyn ‘adviser’
Foreign Ministry apologizes for slamming tweet blaming 'Zionists' for Paris attacks by someone claiming to work for far-left UK Labour leader
Israel’s Foreign Ministry fell for a fake Twitter account pretending to belong to an aide of the far-left leader of Britain’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.
The Twitter handle @WesleyBrownLab is host to a stream of extremist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel tweets, including one posted on Saturday blaming “Zionists” for the deadly Paris attacks on Friday that killed 129 people.
On the social media platform, Wesley Brown’s bio section reads: “Loving Husband and Father, Labour Party Activist, The New Politics. Special Adviser to RT. Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP.”
On November 14, Corbyn’s “adviser” tweeted: “The Paris attacks had nothing to do with Islam. The Zionists & Israel should take full responsibility for this deadly massacre.”
In response, the Foreign Ministry on Monday leveled harsh criticism against the Labour leader, and circulated the offending tweet along with the message, “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”
In the comments, a number of users pointed out that a Google search for Wesley Brown in the Labour Party yielded no results.
Within hours, however, the ministry realized its mistake, retracted the statement and apologized. “Unfortunately, many have fallen into this trap,” a spokesperson said of the mishap.
Israeli officials have long been wary of Corbyn’s politics, and have repeatedly claimed his foreign policies are hostile towards the Jewish state.
Corbyn has previously addressed the Palestinian terror group Hamas and the Lebanon-based extremists Hezbollah as “friends,” and defended a vicar who was censured by the Anglican Church for posting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online. The Labour leader also has publicly endorsed a blanket arms embargo on Israel and the boycott of Israeli universities involved in weapons research.