UK’s Labour to investigate anti-Semitic messages to members
‘I have very serious concerns about [primary candidate] Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters,’ says MP who was target of slurs
Britain’s Labour Party will open an investigation after some of its members received anti-Semitic messages for opposing a candidate for party leadership.
Labour MP John Mann, who chairs the the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, has received dozens of anti-Semitic emails and tweets during the past six weeks, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
Mann, who is not Jewish, is a vocal opponent of Jeremy Corbyn, a member of Parliament running for the leadership of the Labour party who has referred to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends.”
The Chronicle reported that Mann received messages calling him “utter filth” and a “Zionist stooge.” Mann said other Labour MPs have received similar messages.
“I have very serious concerns about Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters,” Mann told the British Sunday Express, according to the Chronicle. “I’ve received some vicious anti-Semitic abuse and I’m expecting the Labour Party to take action against this.”
British Jews have expressed concerns about Corbyn, the frontrunner in Labour’s leadship race, for his apparent support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
A leading Jewish Labour politician said Friday that Corbyn’s views are cause for “serious concern.”
Ivan Lewis, the shadow, or minority, party cabinet minister who is also a former chief executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation, urged his party not to vote for Corbyn.
“Some of [Corbyn’s] stated political views are a cause for serious concern,” Lewis said in letter to his local party members on Friday, according to the Guardian. “At the very least he has shown very poor judgment in expressing support for and failing to speak out against people who have engaged not in legitimate criticism of Israeli governments but in anti-Semitic rhetoric.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
