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A Labour councillor was today suspended as a fresh anti-Semitism storm hit the party.

Nottingham City Councillor Ilyas Aziz appeared to suggest Israel should be relocated to the US and seemed to compare the treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of Jews by the Nazis.

The comments were posted on the politician’s Facebook account – and first highlighted by the Guido Fawkes website.

Among posts was a remark that read: "Jews and Muslims lived together in the Middle East, in peace pre 1948. Perhaps it would have been wiser to create Israel in America it's big enough. They could relocate even now."

Mr Aziz claims he did not write the post, from 2014, although it remains on his Facebook page.

He also posted a link to an article about Nazi Germany in 2014, saying: "A reminder of the treatment and suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany. ARE THERE ANY SIMILARITIES TO HOW ISRAEL IS TREATING PALESTINIANS."

A Labour spokeswoman said: "Ilyas Aziz has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation."

The move comes after Jeremy Corbyn insisted the party is "united" in opposing anti-Semitism in the wake of a turbulent week which has also seen the suspension of MP Naz Shah and former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

Before he learnt of his suspension, Mr Aziz denied posting the comment about relocating Israel.

Asked whether he thought that people who criticised Israeli policy faced being accused of anti-Semitism, he said: "I think you need to be careful.

"The thing you have got to try and appreciate is that if a particular government - whether it's the Israeli government, whether it's the British government - if the government is actually doing something wrong they should be criticised.

"But not the population itself, it's got nothing to do with them, it's got nothing to do with the religion."

After his suspension had been announced Mr Aziz said: "I have no comment at all."

The speed with which Labour acted in Mr Aziz's case comes after opponents accused Mr Corbyn of responding too slowly to deal with incidents - most notably his ally Mr Livingstone's incendiary assertion that Hitler was supporting Zionism before he "went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".

The former London Mayor was defending comments made on social media by Bradford MP Naz Shah, who has also since been suspended for suggesting Israel should be relocated to the US.

Mr Corbyn has announced an independent review and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct on anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in a bid to put a lid on the furore.

But he faced calls from Israeli politicians and diplomats to give a more "unequivocal" condemnation and warnings - including from the party's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan - that the party would be punished in the May 5 elections.

Allies of Mr Corbyn fought back over the weekend and warned critics they had no chance of ousting the leader.

Shadow cabinet minister Diane Abbott said it was "a smear to say that the Labour Party has a problem with anti-Semitism".

Additional reporting by PA