Suspended West Midlands Labour official 'did not understand anti-Semitic posts'
A Labour Party campaign boss who has been suspended for sharing vile anti-Semitic material online claims he had "no understanding" of what his posts meant.
West Midlands regional organiser Mohammed Yasin has apologised for a series of "abhorrent" anti-Semitic Facebook posts, which he says he made before he became a Labour Party member.
But many of the posts appear to have been put online after he started working for the party's West Midlands office in early 2015.
The posts include one from February 2016 featuring a claim originally made by the actor Mel Gibson that Jews were responsible for “all the wars in the world”.
He also shared a passage entitled 'Why Israel is a problem' which criticises "Holocaust propaganda", and a video in December 2015 describing the Rothschilds as the world’s “most wicked and wealthiest family”.
Mr Yasin, a staunch supporter of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was on the campaign team when Rob Marris was elected as the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West in the General Election of May 2015.
He was recently promoted to the position of West Midlands regional organiser, based in Terry Duffy House in West Bromwich.
In a Facebook post Mr Yasin wrote: "I am mortified that I shared images and articles three years ago when I had no understanding of their meaning.
"These were posted before I joined the Labour Party.
"Since joining Labour, I have developed a clear understanding of antisemitism and its impact, and regard these old shares as abhorrent.
"I am deeply sorry for the offence I have caused, in particular to members of Jewish communities, who face so much abuse and hate on a daily basis.
"I will continue to work to deepen my understanding of antisemitism, for better community relations and I will endeavour to do anything I can to repair the harm these posts have caused."
In another post from December 2016, Mr Yasin shared a photograph of him posing with Muslim cleric Mufti Ismail Menk, who he describes as "one of the finest Islamic scholars of our time".
In 2013 a university speaking tour by Mr Menk was cancelled after it emerged he had said that gay people were "worse than animals".
A post from July 2016 featured a guide on how to deselect Labour MPs.
The Labour Party has been at the centre of a long running row over anti-Semitism, with Mr Corbyn accused by some of his own MPs of failing to tackle the problem.
