The Jewish Chronicle

Labour poster boy called IDF ‘Zio Nazis’

- BY ROSA DOHERTY

V A LABOUR election campaign poster features a man who is suspended by the party over alleged antisemiti­sm, the JC has learned.

Kierin Offlands was let off with a formal warning by the party last year after he shared a post while he was a youth officer for Southport Labour Party that called Israeli soldiers “storm troopers” and “Zio Nazis”.

The Sun revealed on Wednesday that Mr Offlands featured on the cover of a campaign leaflet that has been sent to thousands of households — titled “Real Change for Young Workers”.

But the JC understand­s Mr Offlands remains suspended from the party and Labour officials only noticed he was on the material after it had been published.

A Labour spokespers­on said: “This leaflet was produced by Labour Unions. Labour Unions use a wide range of images of members and supporters campaignin­g, and this is not intended as promotion of any individual in the photograph­s.

“This photograph has been removed from all online materials and no further print runs of the leaflet were ordered.”

In one post from 2015, Mr Offlands said: “Rememberin­g I need to hate Israeli Jews and people who think the State of Israel was/is a good idea”

Another post read: “I hate Zionism. I oppose the State of Israel. It is one of the worst thing’s [sic] ever created. To some extensiven­ess, Zionism is Nazism.”

In 2018, Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Antisemiti­sm, which reported Mr Offlands to the party, told The Times: “Jeremy Corbyn claims there is zero tolerance for antisemiti­sm in the Labour Party, but the evidence again and again apparently shows there is plenty of tolerance for racial discrimina­tion against Jews. The Labour Party needs to get a grip on this urgently.”

Baroness Chakrabart­i’s report into antisemiti­sm in Labour specifical­ly recommende­d that party members avoid making comparison­s between Israel and the Nazis.

Rememberin­g I need to hate Israeli Jews’

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