Jewish Voice for Labour activist Beverly Krell posts death threats to former Labour Friends of Israel Chair and threats of violence to Jews

Beverly Krell, a Labour Party member based in Cheadle, and a prolific anti-Israel activist, has threatened Jews she has described as “Zio Nazis” with violence, called Israel a “leisure park based on killing Palestinians” and described Zionists as Nazis in recent social media comments, however she has told the Mail on Sunday that her social media accounts were “hacked”.

Ms Krell, who is Jewish herself but publicly shuns Judaism, lives in Manchester, a city with a large Jewish population that she described in one post as a “Zionist version of Hell’s Corner”. She is thought to be a member a group calling itself Jewish Voice for Labour which has been instrumental in disseminating antisemitic discourse and she has posted a series of antisemitic and threatening comments.

In Facebook posts circulated on Twitter by activists, screenshots show Ms Krell claiming that all Jews are bad as there was “zero difference” between Judaism and Zionism, adding, “Israel and America are the evil incarnate costing millions of lives for another coloniser project.” In a further post Ms Krell claimed that Jews see themselves as “chosen people” with a “superiority complex” and “elitism”, who treat Palestinians “appallingly” because of “white superiority”. She later claimed that both Judaism and Zionism are “white supremacist”.

Following Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry’s speech at the Labour Friends of Israel annual lunch at the end of November in which she urged the Palestinian Authority to end “officially sanctioned antisemitic incitement”, Ms Krell commented that “this message holds true for Zionists who built a leisure park based on killing Palestinians”. Ms Krell went on to imply that Emily Thornberry was forced under duress to show pro-Israel sentiment by making comparisons with the fate of Robin Cook, the Labour MP who opposed the Iraq war, and who died of a heart attack two years after resigning. Ms Krell wrote: “Ask yourself why did Robin Cook have a heart attack condemning Blair and speaking out for an ethical foreign policy. It is very easy to kill someone and make it look like a heart attack.” Ms Krell’s logic suggests that Jews orchestrate conflicts in the Middle East, and are able to assassinate politicians such as Robin Cook for their anti-war stance.

In early 2017, Ms Krell compared the Holocaust with the “Naqba”, the Arabic name for the the Arab defeat and subsequent refugee crisis in the war to obliterate the nascent State of Israel in 1948. She wrote: “I’ve had enough of the regurgitated Holocaust. Is it a singular event for us Jews, or does the extermination of American natives count, or the black holocaust when millions were wrenched from their land and sold into slavery? I guess the Naqba doesn’t count.”

Ms Krell also alarmingly, threatens violence against Jews. When some her comments were shared publicly, she changed her profile name to Sophie Golding and posted: “How do you deal with Zio Nazis other than deactivate the main account and find my AK47?”

Further evidence of her propensity for making violent threats was evidenced by her comments regarding Joan Ryan MP, in which she suggested lynching her, writing: “If anyone has rope and a tree, I’m free”. Ms Ryan was once the Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, and although not Jewish, is a prominent supporter of the Jewish Labour Movement, and a common subject of attack by Ms Krell and those with whom she identifies.

Ms Krell appears to be a member of Jewish Voice for Labour, a group founded and affiliated to the Labour Party in September this year. In a number of open letters she has signed herself as a member of the Cheadle Labour constituency branch. The Jewish Voice for Labour group was formed to contest claims of antisemitism in the Labour Party, deriding the claims as a “myth”. It takes particular umbrage at Labour’s adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism, claiming that it restricts criticism of Israel, despite the definition specifically stating that criticism of Israel does not engage the definition. At its infamous inaugural meeting at the recent Labour Party Conference, speakers voiced the opinion that Holocaust denial should be tolerated and that the Jewish Labour Movement should be expelled from the Party, A leaflet quoting leading Nazi Reinhard Heydrich was even circulated. Jewish Voice for Labour received support from Len McClusky, leader of the Unite union and ally of Ken Livingstone, who later described accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party as “mood music” created to “undermine” Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour Party must act immediately to expel Ms Krell from the Party and make a statement clearly distancing itself from groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour that have been instrumental in disseminating antisemitic discourse.

Ms Krell has not yet responded to Campaign Against Antisemitism’s request for comment.

1/12 @UKLabour Following her post showing her murderous hatred to Jews, we can reveal JVL member Beverly Krell other posts include:

– Minimising the Holocaust
– Threat to murder of a high profile Jew
– Far right style antisemitism
– Conspiracy theories https://t.co/3Z7qB1gSB0

— JVLWatch (@JVL_Watch) December 18, 2017