Corbyn’s links to founder of online group hosting anti-Semitic slurs

Jeremy Corbyn’s full links to the founder of a Facebook group hosting anti-Semitic slurs can be revealed today.

Labour has sought to play down its leader’s relationship with Palestine Live founder Elleanne Green, describing her as an acquaintance.

But the Mail can reveal the pair enjoyed a warm friendship and that Mr Corbyn organised events with her.

Labour has sought to play down its leader’s relationship with Palestine Live founder Elleanne Green, describing her as an acquaintance 

Mrs Green, a Labour member, was placed under investigation a year ago after her anti-Semitic comments came to light. Among her offensive posts, she shared a story claiming ‘Zionists’ are ‘killing children and stealing children to sell them on the black market’.

She also posted material claiming Israeli intelligence services were behind the 9/11 and Paris terror attacks.

Labour said yesterday she was still under investigation but remained a member.

It was revealed earlier this month that Mr Corbyn was a member of her closed Facebook group, which she described in one post as ‘a secret group’.

Palestine Live has hosted shocking anti-Semitic comments including one saying: ‘Am reading Mein Kampf [by Adolf Hitler]… everybody should be forced to read it, especially Jews who have their own agenda as to why they were not liked.’

Mr Corbyn is understood to have been added to the group by Mrs Green in 2013 and was a member for two years before leaving after becoming party leader in 2015. An investigation by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA), shared with the Mail, has now revealed that the Labour leader had a friendly relationship with its founder.

Mrs Green, a Labour member, was placed under investigation a year ago after her anti-Semitic comments came to light 

He regularly commented on and ‘liked’ Mrs Green’s posts on her general Facebook page. He also organised an event with her in his office, then apologised on her page for missing it.

Although he rarely posted on social media before becoming leader, he discussed poetry online with her and wished her a ‘wonderful time’ on her holiday in Cuba. She, in turn, referred to conversations in person with him. Mrs Green is also close to key members of Mr Corbyn’s circle. She has been pictured with Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and boasts of face-to-face discussions with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said the party leader was not aware of any anti-Semitic remarks on the group but Mrs Green regularly posted comments that were offensive to Jewish people.

She once commented on a post saying no ‘friend of Israel’ should be able to stand as an MP in Westminster, adding: ‘The time must surely come.’

She shared a post suggesting the BBC employed ‘obnoxious Jews’ in order to encourage anti-Semitism, adding that this ‘could even be true’.

Mrs Green is also a member of the group Jewish Voice for Labour, which, during last year’s Labour conference, hosted a speaker who said questioning the Holocaust was acceptable.

Joseph Glasman, of the CAA, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn… said he was added to the group by an “acquaintance” but in fact it was his intimate friend Elleanne Green, a prolific disseminator of extreme anti-Semitic material.

‘In doing this, he takes the public for fools, drags the Labour Party into further disrepute and causes yet more fear and anguish for British Jews.’

Labour said it had suspended some members of the party who had posted in the group.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: ‘The only contact Jeremy can recall having with Elleanne Green is limited to a few Facebook exchanges.’

Mrs Green said last night: ‘Jeremy Corbyn does not have an anti-Semitic bone in his body and nor do I. The Labour Party is an anti-racist organisation.’

Labour ‘is not a safe space for Jews’ 

Two Jewish Labour councillors have told how they were subjected to ‘institutional anti-Semitism’ by their own party.

Joe Goldberg and Natan Doron said they had been repeatedly abused by members who support Jeremy Corbyn.

The pair both serve on Haringey council in North London, which now has a majority of activists from the Momentum group that supports the Labour leader.

Mr Goldberg told The Sunday Times a Labour councillor had accused him of ‘bagel-barrel politics’. He added: ‘Many members have repeated to me assertions about Jews having big noses, controlling the media and being wealthy.’

Mr Doron said one party activist told him Israel was ‘a Nazi country’, adding: ‘People are worried and scared and Haringey Labour is definitely not a safe space for Jews.’

The pair are among 20 Labour Haringey councillors who have resigned or been deselected to be replaced by Momentum-backed candidates in May.

Labour said it ‘takes all complaints seriously and all complaints are investigated in line with our rules and procedures’. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk