A Labour activist who tweeted “Israel has no right to exist” and suggested Jewish people are stingy is spearheading a new group for Muslims in Labour which Jeremy Corbyn helped launch last night.

John McDonnell, Dawn Butler, Andy Slaughter, Rupa Huq, Wes Streeting and Afzal Khan were also present at the launch of the Labour Muslim Network, hosted in parliament by Ali Milani, an NUS Vice President who was criticised for past anti-semitic comments. In 2012, Milani posted a tweet suggesting Jewish people are stingy: “Nah u won’t mate it will cost you a pound #jew”. He also sent messages stating:

“Israel has no right to exist. “Israel is a land built on ethnic cleansing and colonialism. Oppression is something your people should know about. “So lecturer asks the class today ‘nobody in this room would ever want to go to war right?’ My hand rises. ‘Who?’ Me: ‘Israel’.”

He also responded to a tweet by Piers Morgan by calling him “a Zionist”. Josh Nagli, campaigns director of the Union of Jewish Students, said in April:

“It is very worrying that someone seeking to be an NUS Vice President has previously expressed views that many Jewish students will find deeply antisemitic.”

Is there anything you can say about Israel that will make you unwelcome in Corbyn’s Labour Party?