EXCL Labour's new head of membership shared video claiming anti-semitism was smear against Jeremy Corbyn

A woman set to take on a top job in Labour shared a video which claimed allegations of anti-semitism by party members were trumped up to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.



Jules Rutherford, who is due to start her new job as Labour’s head of membership on Monday, retweeted a post condemning the "smears against the party leader".

The tweet, by Jack Jazz, linked to a video in which Professor Norman Finkelstein described the anti-semitism claims as "witch-hunt hysteria".

He said: "Jews were the spearhead of the campaign to stop Corbyn.

"The British elites could not have got away with calling Corbyn an anti-semite unless they had the visible support of all the leading Jewish organisations."

Referring to a joint-editorial by three Jewish newspapers last year condemning Labour's response to the anti-semitism accusations, Professor Finkelstein added: "They are the enablers of this concerted conspiracy by the whole of British elite society to destroy Jeremy Corbyn."

In his tweet, which was posted on Thursday and retweeted by Ms Rutherford, Jack Jazz said: "This is Professor Norman Finkelstein on the antisemitism smears which are being used as a political weapon against Jeremy Corbyn. These smears are damaging the fight against real #antisemitism. PLEASE RETWEET IF YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE LIES."

Shortly after PoliticsHome contacted Labour about the tweet, Ms Rutherford's Twitter account was deleted.

Jules Rutherford is due to start as Labour’s new Head of Membership on Monday. Yesterday she retweeted a video which said antisemitism accusations against Labour were “lies” designed to smear Jeremy Corbyn. She’s now deleted her account. pic.twitter.com/7s5wPtFtQA — Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) July 5, 2019

A party source said: "How are Jewish members and Jewish staff going to feel safe when she takes up her job? It’s going to cause massive outrage."

In a statement, a Labour spokesperson said: "We do not comment on staffing matters."

Labour is currently under investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into whether it "unlawfully discriminated" against people because they are Jewish.

In response, a party spokesperson said: "Labour is fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and is implacably opposed to anti-semitism in any form.

"We reject any suggestion that the Party does not handle antisemitism complaints fairly and robustly, or that the Party has acted unlawfully, and we will continue to cooperate fully with the EHRC."