EXCL Labour councillor under fire for sharing 'appalling' image suggesting Chief Rabbi worked with Tories

A Labour councillor has come under fire for sharing an "appalling" image which accuses the Chief Rabbi of being willing to ignore Holocaust denial in the Conservative party.



Waverley borough councillor George Wilson posted the mocked-up image on Facebook which suggested Boris Johnson had ordered Ephraim Mirvis to speak out about Labour anti-semitism.

It came after Rabbi Mirvis said Jeremy Corbyn was "unfit" to be Prime Minister because of his failure to tackle anti-Jewish racism among Labour members.

Councillor Wilson was responding to a thread in the "Labour for Democratic Socialism" Facebook group which asked for examples of when Jeremy Corbyn had personally been anti-semitic.

In the mocked-up image, a speech bubble shows Boris Johnson asking the Chief Rabbi to help with "whipping up that Labour anti-semitism stuff".

He adds: "Just whatever you do, don't mention the two Tory candidates we had to throw out for denying the Holocaust and spewing anti-Jewish bile will you?"

The image shows Mr Mirvis responding: "Whatever you say boss!"

"No, of course I won't mention that.

"Let's just pretend Tory Holocaust denial never happened."

Mr Wilson posted the image to the thread, adding: "Please share."

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, who told PoliticsHome: “What an appalling response to the heartfelt and sincere reflections from the Chief Rabbi whose words outline the deep anxiety and distress felt by the Jewish community.

"Rather than listening, this Labour councillor suggests this is somehow a smear and that the Chief Rabbi is ‘whipping it up’ – I’m afraid his response sums up the problem we are dealing with.”

The row comes just hours after Jeremy Corbyn again refused to apologise to the Jewish community for his response to anti-semitism.

Speaking during a campaign event on Wednesday, Mr Corbyn said he had "made it clear anti-semitism is completely wrong within our society".

He added: “Our party made that clear when I was elected leader, and after that, that anti-semitism is unacceptable in any form in our party or our society.

“And indeed did offer its sympathies and apologies to those that have suffered.”

On Tuesday night, he turned down four opportunities to apologise to Britain's Jews during an interview with Andrew Neil.

The Labour Party and Mr Wilson were approached for comment.