British Labour Party Politician Suspended For Claiming Jews Drink Blood
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Britain’s Labour Party suspended a councillor for sharing a post saying that it is a Jewish ritual to drink blood.
The post appeared Friday on the Facebook page of Damien Enticott, a councillor in Bognor Regis, a town on England’s southern coast. He removed the post and told the Jewish Chronicle that he had not posted it, and that he lived in a shared house and has a computer that does not have passwords.
“The statement that was made wasn’t by myself,” he said. “I don’t actually share anti-Semitic views at all.”
A Labour Party spokesman told Jewish newspapers that Enticott was suspended from the party pending an investigation.
“The Labour Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms,” the spokesman said. “Complaints about anti-Semitism are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
In the post, Enticott appears to “correct” the original post by a page named Black Pride.
“This is done only by Talmud Jews,” Enticott’s apparent commentary said. “Talmud Jews are parasites!” It goes on to say that “Talmud Jews” devalue the lives of non-Jews.
“All Talmuds need executing!,” the commentary said.
A screenshot of the posting was first posted on Twitter by Adam Langleben, a Jewish former councillor from Barnet in North London. Langleben earlier this year wrote an article in the New Statesman about how the failure of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to deal with anti-Semitism in the party was driving away Jewish voters.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
