British Jewish organisations have called on Labour to distance itself from its Peterborough by-election candidate, who has apologised for liking a post that said Theresa May had a “Zionist slave masters agenda”.
Lisa Forbes, who will fight the marginal seat for Labour in the knife-edge by-election June 6th, said she apologised “wholeheartedly for not calling out these posts”.
She claimed she had “intended to like a video of schoolchildren praying in solidarity with the Christchurch attacks, not the views expressed in the accompanying text”.
The Twitter activity was unearthed by a freelance reporter, who also found Forbes had commented on a thread that claimed Isis was created and funded by the CIA and Mossad. Forbes wrote: “I have enjoyed reading this thread so much.”
In a joint statement, Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews – the country’s EJC affiliate – Simon Johnson, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, and David Delew, chief executive of the Community Security Trust, said it “brings into question her suitability for public office”.
The trio said it “stretches the limits of credulity” for Forbes to claim she had not been aware of the comments when she liked the post.
“We are fed up hearing that Labour opposes antisemitism while repeatedly hearing excuses that its members accidentally missed the racism that was staring them in the face,” the statement said. “Unless Labour disowns Lisa Forbes as a candidate, it will only confirm the party’s shameful descent into the racist mess for which they are now being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”
The Peterborough byelection is taking place because the former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was subject to a recall petition after being found guilty of lying about a speeding ticket. The election is expected to be a three-way fight between Labour, the Conservatives and the Brexit party.
