MP Ian Austin furious after Labour readmits Nazi-quoting activist
Dudley North Labour MP Ian Austin has launched a scathing attack on his own party after it reinstated the membership of an 81-year-old anti-Zionist activist.
Mr Austin says he was disgusted that the party’s national executive committee had ruled to readmit Moshe Machover, a pro-Palestinian campaigner who has previously written articles quoting high ranking German Nazi Reinhard Heydrich.
Party officials had expelled Tel Aviv-born Mr Machover last month over his alleged connections with the Communist Party of Great Britain.
However, the 81-year-old successfully argued he was not a member, despite having written a series of controversial articles for the hard left Weekly Worker magazine, including one entitled: Anti-Zionism does not equal anti-Semitism.
A letter from the office of Jeremy Corbyn that has been widely circulated on social media confirmed the party's decision.
A furious Mr Austin told the Express & Star: "Here we've got a man quoting Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the Holocaust, apparently as legitimate 'political debate' in the Labour party. You have got to ask, how has it come to this?
"My dad escaped Czechoslovakia in 1939 but his mom and sisters were murdered by Heydrich's Nazis. I'm just at a loss to understand this nonsense."
A controversial article by Mr Machover was distributed at September's Labour Party conference by the Labour Party Marxists group.
It included a quote made in 1935 by Heydrich, one of Hitler’s most notorious lieutenants, suggesting the early Nazi government agreed with Zionist ideals.
A letter signed by 139 Labour Party members, including Ken Loach, Brian Eno and Sir Geoffrey Bindman, stated that the 'charge of anti-Semitism against Machover is personally offensive and politically dangerous'.
This year's Labour conference was overshadowed by an anti-Semitism row.
A fringe event speaker is reported to have said people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust happened, while some activists were claimed to have cheered calls for pro-Israel groups to be expelled from the party.
Members voted to toughen the party's regulations on racist incidents, including those involving anti-Semitism.
