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Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell called for Holocaust Memorial Day to be renamed to remove the word Holocaust, it has been revealed.

Mr McDonnell presented a motion in the House of Commons to suggest it should be renamed “Genocide Memorial Day - Never Again For Anyone”.

Mr Corbyn, along with three other Labour MPs and Tory MP Peter Bottomley, co-sponsored the motion.

Early Day Motions are the Commons equivalent of a petition, a chance for MPs to put on record how they feel about issues of the day.

It was tabled on January 27 2011, Holocaust Memorial Day.

Politics Home first drew attention to the motion, which called for the definition to be expanded to include the victims of other genocides and their families.

It also notes that the Nazis did not only target Jewish people, but also the disabled and "Roma, Jehova's Witnesses, lesbian, gay and bisexual people and others they deemed undesirables".

(Image: REUTERS)

And it calls on the House of Commons to "welcome" the Never Again For Anyone initiative, an apparent reference to a campaign promoted by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN).

On its website, the IJAN claims the initiative is intended to challenge the "zionist exploitation" of the Holocaust for "political purposes."

It goes on: "By exceptionalizing the Nazi genocide, European Jews are set apart from the victims and survivors of that and other genocides instead of being united with them.

"The Zionist exploitation of this genocide to justify colonization, displacement and apartheid in Palestine is a dishonor to those who survived and those who did not."

A Labour Party spokesman, speaking on behalf of both Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell said: “This was a cross party initiative, jointly sponsored by a senior Conservative MP, to emphasise the already broader character of Holocaust Memorial Day.

“It is not our policy to seek a name change for this important commemoration.”

The Early Day Motion in Full That this House welcomes the Never Again For Anyone Initiative by survivors and descendants of survivors of genocides, which declares that every life is of value; notes that disabled people were the first victims of Nazi mass murder, that working class activists and trade unionists, many of whom were Jewish, were the first to be sent to concentration camps, and that Nazism targeted not only Jewish but also Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, lesbian, gay and bisexual people and others they deemed undesirables; and therefore supports the call for international awareness of all communities and countries who have suffered and resisted mass extermination by renaming Holocaust Memorial Day as Genocide Memorial Day - Never Again For Anyone.”

Mr Corbyn apologised today for hosting an event held in Parliament on Holocaust Memorial day the previous year, 2010, organised as part of the same Never Again For Anyone campaign.

The star speaker at the event had compared the Israeli government to the Nazis.

Mr Corbyn said he was sorry for "concerns and anxiety" after hosting the talk.

The main speaker was Hajo Meyer, a passionate anti-Zionist who survived the Auschwitz Nazi death camp and railed against the actions of the Israeli government.

(Image: PA)

His talk on the tour was entitled: 'The misuse of the Holocaust for political purposes'.

According to the Times, the late Mr Meyer told the event in Parliament: "Judaism in Israel has been substituted by the Holocaust religion, whose high priest is [Nobel prize-winning author] Elie Wiesel."

Mr Corbyn said today: "The main speaker at this Holocaust Memorial Day meeting, part of a tour entitled 'never again - for anyone', was a Jewish Auschwitz survivor.

"Views were expressed at the meeting which I do not accept or condone.

"In the past, in pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people and peace in Israel/Palestine, I have on occasion appeared on platforms with people whose views I completely reject.

"I apologise for the concerns and anxiety that this has caused."