London
– Sadiq Khan has been on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse including antisemitism
after backing Owen Smith to be Labour’s next leader.
The
London mayor was highly critical of the current leader and his role in the EU
referendum campaign in an article for the Observer, hours before ballot papers
were sent out in the two-way leadership contest.
Soon
after his article was published, he received a number of messages suggesting he
had been influenced by Jews. One asked “Who owns you @sadiqkhan?”, alongside a
picture of a kippah-wearing mayor eating matzah during an event ahead of
Pesach.
Another
said Khan “spends his time writing articles to help his masters in Tel Aviv”,
while a further tweet attacked the mayor as a “Zionist” together with an image
of Khan in front of a London Jewish Forum banner.
Khan
repeatedly condemns cases of antisemitism within the party during the race for
City Hall, saying he wore a “badge of shame” over the scourge and suggesting
the Labour leadership could have taken a tougher stance.
A
spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: “Jeremy has consistently spoken out against
antisemitism in all its forms and condemned all abuse. He has repeatedly called
for a kinder, gentler politics, and recently launched
“Respect and Unity”, a code of conduct
calling on all Labour members and supporters to conduct themselves with a high
standard of ehaviour.”
