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Labour faced a fresh anti-Semitism row last night after a speaker at a party conference fringe event called for free speech to extend to holocaust denial.

At the same meeting, activists cheered as a speaker called for Jewish and pro-Israel groups to be expelled from the party.

Israeli-American author Miko Peled told a conference fringe meeting Labour members should support the freedom to “discuss every issue, whether it’s the holocaust, yes or no, whether it’s Palestine liberation - the entire spectrum.

“There should be no limits on the discussion.”

Labour MP Wes Streeting said: “This is not a question to which there is any other answer than ‘the holocaust is one of the greatest crimes in human history and this should never happen again.

There are plenty of far-right websites where you can peddle hatred. The fringe of the Labour Party isn’t the place to have that discussion.”

(Image: REUTERS)

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Labour condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms and our NEC unanimously passed tough new rule changes last week.

“All groupings in the party should treat one another with respect. We will not tolerate antisemitism or holocaust denial.”

Fringe meetings are not run by the party, and Labour say they are not responsible for their content.

The meeting was one of hundreds of fringe events held alongside the conference, taking place this week in Brighton, and advertised in the official Labour conference guide.

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Supporters were ordered not to tweet or take photographs at the Free Speech on Israel (FSOI) event, held on the fringe of Labour Party Conference today, in a bid to avoid “hostile” coverage.

Leaflets handed out at the event branded claims of growing anti-Semitism in the UK “hysterical” and a “manufactured moral panic”.

During the discussion, Michael Kalmanovitz, a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, said the claims were part of a right-wing effort to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and the left.

He went on to call for two pro-Israeli groups to be expelled from the party.

He said: “The thing is, if you support Israel, you support apartheid. So what is the JLM (Jewish Labour Movement) and Labour Friends of Israel doing in our party? Kick them out.”

Loud cheers, applause and calls of “throw them out” erupted in the room of around a hundred activists in response.

Jennifer Gerber, director of Labour Friends of Israel, said the event was “beyond disgraceful”.

She said: “Supporting the world’s only Jewish state is a mainstream and long-standing Labour position. We hope the Labour Party leadership acts swiftly to condemn those who seek to bully pro-Israel and Jewish members out of the party.”

And Jeremy Newmark, Chair of Jewish Labour Movement, said it was “a thinly veiled call to purge Jews from the Labour Party.”

He added: “The group whose meeting provided an arena for this hate speech was allowed to advertise it official Party literature. That is far from the zero tolerance on antisemtism that the leadership have promised.”