Corbyn still campaigns with Lisa Forbes, Labour’s candidate in Peterborough by-election, after learning she “enjoyed reading” comments under post claiming ISIS was created by Mossad
Jeremy Corbyn has continued to campaign with Lisa Forbes, Labour’s candidate in the Peterborough by-election, even after learning that she liked a Facebook post that said that Theresa May has a “Zionist slave master’s agenda” and commented that she “enjoyed reading” comments beneath a post claiming that ISIS and other extremists were created and funded by the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad.
When approached by the Peterborough Telegraph, she apologised and pledged to “deepen my understanding of antisemitism so I can act as an ally, challenging antisemitism wherever it occurs.”
Ms Forbes was joined by Jeremy Corbyn for campaigning on Saturday ahead of the by-election. Mr Corbyn refused to answer a journalist’s question if Pete Willsman will be expelled from Labour after he was suspended for claiming in a recording that the “Israeli embassy” and an “agent” are “behind all this antisemitism against Jeremy.”
This latest revelation in the Labour antisemitic crisis was uncovered by investigative journalist Iggy Ostanin.
It is beyond disturbing that Ms Forbes has liked and commented positively on posts espousing antisemitic conspiracy theories, and that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party continue to endorse her nonetheless, with no sign of even the façade of disciplinary proceedings. We will refer this incident to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for consideration during their statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party.
Ms Forbes was a signatory to an open letter in August last year to the Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) urging them not to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism in full.
Her co-signatories to the letter included Asa Winstanley and Rebecca Massey. Mr Winstanley called the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) an “Israeli Embassy proxy” and was reportedly suspended from Labour in March, pending an investigation. Ms Massey tweeted that “Israel has Tory & Labour parties under control.”
It also emerged that Ms Forbes posted in the Peterborough Palestine Solidarity Campaign Facebook group, a forum where one participant wrote about “Zionist rats” and another said that “Israel spends a fortune perverting our democracy.”
On Tuesday, the Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In recent months, eleven MPs have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”