Labour activist removed from parliamentary candidate shortlist after JC reveals he defended notorious antisemitic image

A Labour activist was removed from the shortlist to be the party's parliamentary candidate in Epping Forest after the JC revealed he defended a notorious antisemitic image showing the image of a parasite on the Statue of Liberty with a Star of David on it.

Colin Monehen, who drew widespread applause at the 2018 Labour Party conference with his impassioned pro-Palestinian speech, claimed the image, which first emerged on a far-right website, could be interpreted as "being about the state of Israel, not the Jewish people".

The image, which showed the Statue of Liberty being smothered by an alien with the Star of David on its back, was shared by Kayla Bibby, who represented the Liverpool Riverside constituency at the 2018 Labour conference. She wrote: “The most accurate photo I’ve seen all year!”

The image had been taken from a far-right website, Incogman, where it had been used to illustrate an article that portrayed Jews as “parasitic” and said they were to blame for “financial heists of entire nations”.

But the JC can reveal that Mr Monehen tried to defend the hugely controversial image in August in an exchange on Twitter.

Asked whether he believed it was "just criticism of Israel", Mr Monehen responded: "The blue star the exact colour of the Israeli flag is that the one you mean?"

Stressing he had not himself shared the image, Mr Monehen then added: "Let me ask you something is it possible that someone could interpret that image about the state of Israel, not the Jewish people?"

Earlier this year, Labour suspended an activist in Liverpool Riverside after Dame Louise Ellman, the MP who resigned from the party last week, repeatedly complained about the circulation of the image.

Mr Monehen was due to appear at a hustings in front of Epping Forest Labour members on Wednesday night to convince them to choose him to fight the seat, currently held by Conservative MP Eleanor Laing.

But on Wednesday, after this story was published, a Labour source confirmed that Mr Monehen was removed from the provisional shortlist following the completion of due diligence checks.

It is not Mr Monehen's first controversial statement about Labour's antisemitism crisis.

In June he posted a picture of himself with suspended MP Chris Williamson, whom the Board of Deputies a "Jew baiter" for his comments about antisemitism, with the words: "Welcome back Chris."

Colin Monehen poses with suspended MP Chris Williamson

At the 2018 Labour Conference in Liverpool, he had to be urged off the stage after giving an angry speech defending the Palestinian people on the day party members flew Palestinian flags en masse.

Mr Monehan, the Harlow delegate, told security to bring an army with them if they wanted to get him off stage before he finished his speech.

With delegates clapping, cheering and waving flags, he said: "My time's not up - I'm speaking for the Palestinian people. If you want me off the stage, you're going to have to send security here and they better send an army. Like Palestinians, East enders don't go down easy."

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