Ken Livingstone appeared on Iranian state television on Holocaust Memorial Day on a programme that asked whether the Shoa has “been exploited to oppress others.”

The former Mayor of London - currently suspended from the Labour Party over antisemitism claims - appeared on Press TV on Saturday with host Roshan Muhammed Salih.

Several callers phoned into the show - which suggested ‘Zionists’ had exploited the Holocaust - and repeated openly antisemitic tropes. 

At one point the presenter says: "I don't know whether 6 million, or 4 million died or 2 million died."

One caller to the programme, Ali, said: ”If it wasn’t for Hitler there would be no Israel. So this idea that Hitler was a bad guy - he wasn’t so bad for Israel.”

Mr Livingstone disagreed saying the remarks were “deeply offensive” to Jewish communities around the world. 

But later Mr Livingstone attempted to justify his own past comments on Hitler and Zionism. 

He said: ”I mean Hitler wanted to eliminate every Jew who was living inside Germany and that’s what he did in the 1930s. He worked with the Zionist movement to move ...to get 60000 to go. But it was about half a million and then he changed his policy and went for genocide. “

Host Mr Salih at one stage spoke of the “industry” that has built up around the Holocaust. 

2. Its an absolute honour to upset Zionists. These are people who support Israel, which stole and ethnically cleansed Palestinian land and sustained itself through war, occupation & oppression. They have no moral high ground at all. Let’s stand tall and call out their hypocrisy

— Roshan M Salih (@RmSalih) January 29, 2018

Asked why Hollywood had made films about the Holocaust but not the Palestinians, Mr Livingstone said the subject was “too controversial” and would be “denounced as antisemitic.”