Meanwhile, Sadiq Khan, Labour’s Mayoral candidate, admitted he fears his prospects of being elected in London have been dealt a blow by Mr Livingstone’s comments. “You’re saying because there have been 12 reported incidents of hate speech online that the Labour party is somehow intrinsically anti-Semitic?”
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At around the same time, the student wing of the Labour Party was compelled to launch an internal investigation in the wake of a string of allegations of anti-Semitism in its Oxford University chapter.
He said he’d had “quite a lot of texts and tweets from Jewish people saying, “we would like to come along and support you at this inquiry”.
But Labour MP Chris Bryant, the shadow (British opposition) leader in the House of Commons, said, “I’m sick and exhausted of people trying to explain it away and, yes, I’m talking to you Ken Livingstone”.
“Once the mood music of anti-Semitism dies down, then next week and the week after there will be another subject”, he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
She angrily denounced claims of a deeper problem in the party, ranting: “It’s something of a smear”.
Former mayor of London Ken Livingstone, centre, is surrounded by media outside Millbank in Westminster, London, Thursday April 28, 2016.
Abbott, who helps set the party’s worldwide development policies, made her comments as debate on whether the frequent criticism of Israeli government policies from Labour members had crossed over into anti-Semitism overshadowed last-minute electioneering for a mayoral race for London slated for Thursday.
Mr Corbyn’s attempts to put a lid on the situation by announcing an independent review and tighter procedures was undermined when Mr Livingstone publicly stuck by his comments.
A poll carried out amid the controversy gave the Conservatives an eight-point lead, and experts tip Labour to lose up to 150 council seats in England and face a hard night in Scotland and Wales.
Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Ms Abbott made clear she takes anti-Semitism “extremely seriously”, particularly as some Jewish schools in her own constituency are under police protection out of fear of anti-Semitic attacks. Both of them are antisemitic organisations.
“Now, I’d ask the following question: if you’re progressive, you’re embracing an organisation which is homophobic, which is misogynistic, which is openly anti-Semitic, what’s progressive about that?”
He said he would “love” to meet Corbyn to discuss the issue of anti-Semitism, and urged the Labour leader to visit Israel.
But last week’s remarks by party MP Naz Shah and senior leader Ken Livingstone threw the party in turmoil, amid reports that some MPs and leaders were planning a “coup” against Corbyn after the June 23 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
“I am an advocate of the Labour leadership, including the NEC, actually receiving some training on this stuff as clearly they don’t understand what racism is, and there is no hierarchy when it comes to racism”.
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Yesterday, Isaac Herzog, leader of the Israeli Labour Party, invited his United Kingdom counterpart to visit Israel and its Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to learn about antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
