John McDonnell tweets support for far-left Canary website whose editor has history of antisemitic comments
John McDonnell, the Labour MP former Shadow Chancellor, has tweeted his support for The Canary, a controversial hard-left blog, despite the fact that it is under investigation by the Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism and its editor’s history of antisemitic statements.
Mr McDonnell was supporting a crowdfunding campaign for the website, even though its editor, Kerry-Ann Mendoza, has repeatedly compared Israel to the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Ms Mendoza has also previously attacked Campaign Against Antisemitism using violent language, saying “The antisemitism witch hunt is seriously about to face off with #BlackLivesMatter I’m telling you now, those anti-Black, anti-Palestinian racists are gonna get their asses dragged all over town. And they have no clue. Because…entitlement.”
Recently, Mr McDonnell tweeted a photo of an antisemitic sign which was featured at a rally that he himself attended. Last year, Mc McDonnell was accused of sharing a platform with expelled Labour members at the Labour Representation Committee’s Annual General Meeting, namely Jackie Walker and Tony Greenstein, but he claimed that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that as it was an open meeting and that he could not control who spoke. He remains the Honorary President of the controversial group.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.