KHAN ATTACKED OVER IMAM LINKS

Aysegul Gurbuz, Michael Foster, George Carey Keith Vaz, Jeremy Newmark, Jeremy Corbyn don, made no mention of specific or recent incidents within Labour, but stressed: “Antisemitism is not, and should not be, the Jewish community’s fight alone. It is everyone’s fight, everyone’s responsibility. Because it is an assault on all humanity.”

He said the response to antisemitism “can’t be to turn away. It must be to engage, not to ignore”.

Luton councillor Aysegul Gurbuz was suspended last week by Labour for posting antisemitic tweets. She praised Adolf Hitler, calling him the “greatest man in history” and said she hoped Israel would be wiped out by an Iranian nuclear bomb. She later denied writing the posts, which appeared on her account between 2011 and 2014.

On Sunday, former Labour general election candidate Michael Foster, whose family has donated more than £400,000 to the party, attacked Mr Corbyn, saying he was “too weak” to stand up to Jew-hatred on the left.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey suggested Mr Corbyn’s failuretoeradicateantisemitismwithinthe party would undermine his attempts to become Prime Minister. The Council of Christians and Jews vice-president said if Mr Corbyn did not take effective action, it would “demonstrate that Labour is not ready to govern”.

SENIOR Conservatives have attacked Labour’s London mayor candidate Sadiq Khan over his alleged links to radical figures.

Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith claimed on Wednesday that his opponent had “given platform, oxygen and cover” to extremists.

Mr Goldsmith told the that Mr Khan was attempting to evade “legitimate questions” by arguing he was the victim of Islamophobia. Mr Goldsmith said: “I think he is playing with fire. The questions are genuine, they are serious. To be clear, I have never suggested he is an ex- tremist, but without a shadow of doubt he has given platform, oxygen and cover to people who are extremists.” Boris Johnson had earlier claimed there was an “antisemitic sickness” within Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party — something he complained Mr Khan had only “belatedly admitted”. Speaking at the Conservative Party’s spring forum last Saturday, Home Secretary Theresa May also attacked Mr Khan. At a hustings on Tuesday, former Tory MP Lee Scott cited Mr Khan’s comments last week in which he said he was “embarrassed and sorrowful” about antisemitism within Labour.

Mr Scott called on the mayoral hopeful to resign from the party and stand as an independent candidate.

“If he is as ashamed of Labour as he says, then that is the most honest thing he could do,” Mr Scott said.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said the attacks were “horribly desperate stuff from a Tory campaign that is clearly losing. Sadiq has spent his whole life fighting extremism”.

Mr Khan attended a pre-Pesach event at the North Western Reform Synagogue, Alyth Gardens, in north-west London on Wednesday night.