Disgraced former MP Chris Williamson says “Zionist teachers around the country are violating children’s rights” and brands Zionism “a racist ideology”

Disgraced former MP Chris Williamson has tweeted that “Zionist teachers around the country are violating children’s rights” and that Zionism is “a racist ideology.”

He went on to say that Zionism “has no place in society – especially in the classroom”, and offered support to any parents whose child “has been affected by Zionist extremism from teachers or headteachers.”

Mr Williamson, who was suspended from the Labour Party several times before running as an Independent in the 2019 General Election and receiving so few votes that, extraordinarily for an incumbent MP, he lost his deposit, has been embroiled in controversy over comments about Jews, “Zionists” and antisemitism for a long time.

Last year, Royal Holloway’s Students’ Union disinvited Mr Williamson from a Debating Society event in order to comply with its policy on hate speech.

He also has a close association with David Miller, the conspiracy theorist academic at the University of Bristol who is being investigated over inflammatory comments that he made about Jewish students.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.