A row has broken out between left-wing activists and Jewish Labour members and residents after antisemitic material was distributed at the party’s conference in Brighton.
Sussex Police confirmed officers had removed a banner hung near the Brighton Centre which portrayed a fighter plane, representing the “Israel lobby” attacking Jeremy Corbyn with “defamation”.
The force added that a man will attend a voluntary interview by appointment with police officers, who are considering whether any offences under the Public Order Act have been committed.
Horrendous to see an antisemitic cartoon outside @UKLabour conference for the SECOND year running
— Jack Lubner (@JackLubner) September 22, 2019
I feel sick and unwelcome, as a Jewish member, to have to walk past this racist bile on the way into conference
The second photo is another of Latuff’s works for context#Lab19 pic.twitter.com/bfGiq1QQzD
The Sussex Friends of Israel, which drew the police’s attention to the banner, claimed it was “clearly antisemitic in nature and put there to cause offence”.
The group added: “It was done purely to inflame and incite more hate. We are grateful to Sussex Police who recognised this and removed the offender banner at the earliest opportunity.
“This is just another example of the problematic nature of this year’s conference and the impact it is having on our small community.”
Jack Lubner, the JLM co-youth and students officer, tweeted that the banner made him feel “sick and unwelcome, as a Jewish member, to have to walk past this racist bile on the way into conference”.
The Labour party said it asked police officers to remove the banner "as soon as we were made aware of it".
A party spokesman added: "This kind of hateful poster has no place anywhere near our conference."
The police force confirmed that the poster is now in its possession.
Earlier, Buzzfeed correspondent Hannah Al-Othman reported that flyers from the Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (Lazir) had been distributed in the conference hall, accompanied by an image of a laser destroying a Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) membership card.
The JC understands that the leaflet's author is currently suspended from Labour.
This leaflet showing a laser weapon destroying @JewishLabour was distributed inside the conference centre at #Lab19. pic.twitter.com/vIETiLpOk8
— Hannah Al-Othman (@HannahAlOthman) September 22, 2019
The flyer read: “Join our fight to rid our party of the Jewish Labour Movement, an organisation re-constituted just four years ago in the aftermath of Jeremy Corbyn’s victory, specifically to attack, undermine and destroy his leadership.”
It also accused JLM of “falsely attacking Jeremy Corbyn and the party as ‘antisemitic’ and pushing the FAKE ‘antisemitism crisis’ narrative in national and international media”.
It added that JLM has aligned with and defended the “racist apartheid state of Israel in direct opposition to the Labour party’s stated aim of fighting all forms of racism and discrimination”.
The Labour party said that Lazir is not an official Labour organisation "and does not have permission to distribute material in the conference centre."
Neither the banner nor the Lazir leaflet were officially authorised Labour party publications.
