Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Israel of carrying out a genocide of the Palestinian people in a far left document which also appeared to back armed resistance to the Jewish state.

Mr Corbyn was among several high profile left-wing names to put his name to the ‘Cairo Declaration’ which called for a boycott of Israel and accused it of perpetrating “apartheid” against the Palestinians, it has emerged.

The existence of the 2002 document has emerged on the eve of Labour’s conference in Brighton and is bound to further embarrass moderate elements in the party who fear it is allowing itself to be painted as extreme in the run up to a general election.

Critics have said Mr Corbyn’s decision to put his name to a document placed him on the side of those who question the very right of Israel to exist.

The emergence of the document comes as leaflets accusing Israel of being a racist state were being handed out to delegates arriving at Labour conference yesterday.

The leaflet, issued by a faction called Labour Party Marxists, carries an article headlined A Racist Endeavour, describing Israel as a “colonial settler project” involved in “systematic discrimination” against the Palestinians.