AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into claims a Winchester university lecturer made anti-semitic social media posts.

Academic Jane Dipple, a member of the Labour party, is alleged to have made comments online about Jews and Zionism, as the Labour anti-semitism row continues to make the headlines.

It comes after Ms Dipple, a lecturer in media and communication, was among 40 senior academics who signed a letter in the Guardian defending Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The allegation surfaced in a report by the news website Huffington Post (HP).

Among the Facebook posts republished by the HP was one from Ms Dipple's account saying: "This is not an anti-semitic rant this is about a Zionist attempt at creating a 'pure race' which sites alongside all other countries that have tried to do the same."

Another said: "What's the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance about anyway?"

An article from far-right website The Daily Stormer was also shared from the account with the headline ‘BBC to replace male Jew political editor with female Jew’.

According to HP, Ms Dipple is also a member of the Palestine Live Facebook page which is notorious for posting Holocaust denial myths, allegations of Israel’s involvement in the 9/11 and 7/7 terror attacks and the training of Islamic State fighters, and conspiracy theories involving the Rothschild family.

In response, a University of Winchester spokesperson said: "We are shocked by the content in these posts and we have launched an urgent investigation which is currently underway. We do not tolerate anti-semitism and we take any allegations of such activity extremely seriously.

"Ms Dipple’s comments were made in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the university and they do not reflect the university’s views in any way. We are deeply committed to equality and diversity in everything we do."

A spokesman for the Labour party told HP: “The Labour party is committed to challenging and campaigning against anti-semitism in all its forms.

“All complaints of anti-semitism are taken extremely seriously. These are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

Momentum, of which Dipple is also a member, made a similar statement.

Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Anti-semitism, said: “The horrific content posted by Jane Dipple is sadly typical of much of what we have witnessed in our investigations.

“It is also typical of much of the content to be found on pro-Jeremy Corbyn groups on Facebook, some of which have been reported to the police by Lord Sugar and others.

“If this case has not been progressed by Labour’s compliance unit then urgent questions need to be answered as to why that hasn’t happened. Enough is enough.”

Attempts to contact Ms Dipple have been made.