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AN ACTIVIST who compared Israel to Isis and has expressed support for Hezbollah has been suspended after being elected secretary of one of the country’s largest local Labour parties.

Hüseyin Ali-Diakides was voted in by 37 to seven in Stroud Green branch on July 3 — despite the contest being uncontested.

Stroud Green is a Haringey council ward in North London which straddles the Hornsey and Wood Green and Tottenham parliamentary constituencies.

In a series of blog posts, Mr Ali-Diakides compared Israel to Islamic State and praised Syrian dictator Bashar alAssad and “real jihadis” such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

In his comparison of Israel to Isis, he wrote that Israel had engaged in “ethnic cleansing” of “Arabs or Muslims and Christians in Palestine”.

An image of Mr Ali-Diakides posing in front of a Hezbollah flag has also been circulated on Twitter.

Both wings of Hezbollah, which comprises an Islamist political party and a militia, were banned as terrorist organisations earlier this year.

The photo is believed to pre-date the government’s banning of the group.

The JC understands a complaint with Labour’s National Complaints Team was lodged on his appointment as local party secretary.

He is the son of a sitting Labour councillor in Haringey, Isidoros Diakides, who represents the neighbouring Tottenham Green ward and is reportedly a personal friend of Jeremy Corbyn.

James Austin, a former Stroud Green Labour member who uncovered the posts, said: “It is incredibly disappointing to find out that… they’ve chosen to elect someone who has openly expressed support for antisemitic, terrorist organisations.”

Adrian McMenamin, a Labour member who was present at the vote, told the JC that Mr Ali-Diakides’s views make him “in my view, not fit to be a member of the Labour Party, much less hold office”.

Richard Horton, the former chair of the ward party, resigned in March in protest of the party’s handling of antisemitism complaints, saying the “leadership, activists and apparatus of the party are so consumed by hate and outright crankery”.

A Labour spokesman said: “The party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously, which are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken. We cannot comment on individual cases.”

Mr Ali-Diakides was approached for comment

Activists… are consumed by hate and crankery’