British Labour activist Bob Campbell is not the first in the party to be suspended for posting vile anti-Israel comments and graphics on social media.
A British Labour Party activist who claimed that the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization is controlled by Israel says he was not suspended from the party, although earlier reports indicated that his membership had been revoked, the UK-based Independent reported.
Bob Campbell’s hostile allegations paralleled those made by a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official. Following the announcement that the Islamic State terror organization (ISIS) had orchestrated the terror attacks in Brussels last week, in which at least 31 people were murdered and hundreds injured, PA Security Forces Spokesman Adnan Al-Damiri suggested, in a Facebook post, that Israel was behind the attacks, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
Also using the Facebook platform, Campbell posted just a day after the Brussels terror attacks that “ISIS is run by Israel.” The next day, he said that ISIS did not attack Israel “because the dog doesn’t bite its own tail.”
His earlier Facebook posts included pictures indicating that Israel was committing a Holocaust in Gaza and depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being hung from a tree alongside an Israeli flag adapted with an image of a rat, featuring the words: “The real plague.”
Campbell denied posting that image.
A Facebook post by British Labour activist Bob Campbell claiming Israel runs ISIS. (The Independent/Facebook)
According to the Sunday Times, Campbell was suspended after his most recent posts were seen by Member of Parliament Tom Blenkinsop, who demanded an investigation.
Despite Campbell’s obscene comments aimed at the Jewish state, he denies being an anti-Semite.
Earlier this month, Labour Party member Vicki Kirby was also suspended pending investigation for allegedly posting anti-Semitic comments on Facebook, and in 2014 she was suspended for posts attacking Israel on the social media platform.
Mayor of Bradford Khadim Hussain is another Labour Party member who was suspended for similar reasons.
Party members harboring anti-Semitism should be banned for life, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told The Independent. “I’m not having it. People might say ‘I’ve changed my views’ – well, do something in another organisation,” he said. “Anti-Semitism is in our society, it will rear its head as a result of that in any part of society and we’ve got to be eternally vigilant.”
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, in fact, has a history of anti-Israel rhetoric and a controversial association with a group run by a Holocaust denier. In an interview with the anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada in August, a month prior to being elected by an overwhelming majority as party leader, Corbyn expressed support for imposing an arms embargo on Israel and boycotting Israeli universities involved in arms research.
By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from The Independent)