Anti-semitism crisis deepens for Labour

Dithering Corbyn under fire as revolt forces him to suspend Israel jibe MP

JEREMY Corbyn was accused of failing to tackle the ‘crisis of anti-semitism’ in Labour last night after he reluctantly suspended an MP who called for Jews in Israel to be sent to the US.

At first the Labour leader refused to discipline Naz Shah, saying her 2014 Facebook posts were ‘historic’.

The Bradford West MP was finally suspended late yesterday after Mr Corbyn bowed to pressure to act from Shadow Cabinet colleagues.

The handling of Mrs Shah’s case, in which she posted messages on social media saying the transportation of Jews to the US was a ‘solution to the Middle East crisis’ caused outrage and dismay among Labour MPs. Pressure intensified when it emerged one of Mrs Shah’s advisers, Labour councillor Mohammad Shabbir, posted antisemitic rants on Twitter.

He used the racist term ‘Zios’, often used by neo-Nazis to describe Jews.

Mr Shabbir, 55, was last night suspended from the Labour Party along with his long-time friend Mrs Shah.

Mrs Shah, 42, was called in yesterday morning to see Mr Corbyn, after which he released a short statement admitting her posts were ‘offensive and unacceptable’. But he claimed they were ‘historic’, pointed to her apology and indicated no further action would be taken. She was sacked as an aide to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell on Tuesday when the comments first emerged.

David Cameron piled on further pressure at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons yesterday.

He said: ‘The fact that we have got a Labour MP with the whip who made remarks about the transportation of people from Israel to America and talked about a “solution” is quite extraordinary. Perhaps if you could deal with anti-semites in your own

‘Offensive and unacceptable’

party, we’d all be prepared to listen to you a bit more.’

Afterwards, a spokesman for Mr Cameron warned there is a ‘crisis of anti-semitism’ in the Labour Party.

Mr Corbyn’s spokesman distanced his boss from the scandal, saying it was the responsibility of the National Executive Committee of the party to suspend Mrs Shah.

Then, at 2pm, in a last- ditch attempt to save her skin, Mrs Shah expressed her ‘deep sorrow’ in a ‘profound apology’ to the Commons.

During the afternoon, the Mail understands, a series of senior Shadow Cabinet figures told Mr Corbyn he must suspend Mrs Shah.

Just after 4pm, Labour released a second statement saying Mr Corbyn and Mrs Shah had ‘mutually agreed’ she would be suspended by the party’s general secretary, Iain McNicol.

Last night the Labour leader continued to come under fire, this time from Britain’s leading Jewish group, the Board of Deputies.

President Jonathan Arkush said ‘effective measures’ were needed to eradicate anti-semitism within the Labour Party. Most damagingly, he claimed Mr Corbyn had met ‘rank anti- semites’ before he became leader and demanded he accept those meetings were ‘not appropriate and will not be repeated’.