A cross-party group of 11 peers have written to the police to report antisemitic content in Facebook groups that support Jeremy Corbyn.
In the letter, they ask authorities to consider “serious concerns” about “examples of hate speech on social media platforms” publicised by The Sunday Times over the Easter Holiday.
Signatories to the letter include CFI Honorary President Lord Polak, CFI Officer Baroness Altmann CBE, and Lord Leigh, Labour politicians Lord Beecham and Lord Turnberg, Vice President of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel Lord Palmer Monroe, as well as cross-bench peers including Lord Sugar, Baroness Deech, Lord Mitchell, Lord Pannick, and Lord Carlile.
The peers cite the ‘Supporting Jeremy Corbyn & John McDonnell’ Facebook group, which features a post saying: “Adolph (sic), you should have finished the job”, as a “clear and unambiguous example of hate speech”.
The letter also references the ‘Jeremy Corbyn Leads Us to Victory’ group, on which pictures feature allegedly Jewish journalists with the Star of David pasted onto them.
The peers state “many of the messages may be a breach under the Public Order Act (1986), and would ask that the Metropolitan Police investigate. These messages seem to go well beyond what can reasonably be considered as free-speech, and we believe those which incite violence should urgently be investigated to establish whether they were made with serious intent”.
The letter adds: “It is our strongly held belief that this antisemitic rhetoric not only stirs up racial hatred which threatens the very fabric of community cohesion throughout London and the UK, but also poses a possible physical threat to the Jewish community”.
