The mayor of the small town of Argos in southern Greece, Dimitris Kambosou, was expelled from the New Democracy party on Friday over anti-Semitic references regarding his counterpart in Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris.



The decision was taken by the conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.



In an anti-Semitic rant, Kambosou expressed his dislike of Boutaris over his stance on various national and social issues, adding that “he only gets away with it because he is liked by the Jews.”



“He can say what he wants because he wears the [kippah],” he said.



In a statement, New Democracy expressed its condemnation over Kambosou’s “disgusting” comments, announcing his immediate expulsion from the party.



The mayor of Argos had also disparaged Boutaris in the wake of his near-lynching by far-right thugs almost three weeks ago.



Ruling SYRIZA said Mitsotakis’s condemnation was belated as the party had said nothing about Kambosou’s initial comments last month.