The Scotsman

Peers call on police to investigat­e anti-semitism by Corbyn supporters

- By SAM LISTER cmarshall@scotsman.com

0 Jeremy Corbyn has come under pressure on the issue A group of peers has called on Scotland Yard to investigat­e online anti-semitic abuse by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.

The cross-party letter from the Lords members to Metropolit­an Police Commission­er Cressida Dick highlighte­d “unambiguou­s” examples of hate speech on pages of Facebook groups set up to back the Labour leader.

Lord Sugar, who quit Labour three years ago, said Mr Corbyn was “dangerous” and insisted it was the Opposition leader’s job “to stop inciting this type of rubbish”.

He said: “I am happy to put my name to this letter.

“If I didn’t know better, I would say Corbyn has deliberate­ly aggravated the situation by associatin­g himself with known haters. If you didn’t condone it, you would keep away from it.

“If this was about Muslims there would be merry hell to pay, there would be riots in the streets.”

Lord Sugar also posted an “ode to Jeremy Corbyn” on Twitter and called on MPS and peers to “grow a pair and get him OUT”.

The letter to the Met chief was drafted by Lord Polak, honorary president of the Conservati­ve Friends of Israel, and was backed by ten other peers.

The letter stated: “In one such example, the member of thesupport­ingjeremyc­orbyn & John Mcdonnell Facebook group said ‘Adolph [sic], you should have finished the job’.

“This is a clear and unambiguou­s example of hate speech.

“One member of the Jeremy Corbyn Leads Us To Victory Facebook group posted pictures of journalist­s at the New York Times and CNN, with the Star of David pasted on to those they believed to be Jewish.

“It is our strongly held belief that this anti-semitic rhetoric not only stirs up racial hatred which threatens the very fabric of community cohesion throughout London and the UK, but also poses a possible physical threat to the Jewish community.”

A spokesman for the Metropolit­an Police said: “The Metropolit­an Police received correspond­ence addressed to the Commission­er’s office on Wednesday 4 April and it will be reviewed.”

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