Jeremy Corbyn has asked two MPs with critical views of Israel to lead his party’s efforts to repair relations with the Jewish community.

It is believed Kate Osamor and Sarah Champion will informally share the role vacated by Dawn Butler last month when she quit her position as Shadow Minister for Minority Ethnic Communities.

Ms Champion has been a leading critic of Israel and campaigned for the government to set up a “watchlist” of Israelis who are “known war crime suspects”.

In January last year she led a Parliamentary debate in which she accused the Israeli Defence Forces of "mass intimidation and collective punishment" of Palestinians in the West Bank. She has previously visited the Palestinian territory and said “being pro-Palestine does not make you anti-Israel”.

Ms Osamor has her own chequered history on the region. Last year she signed a letter attacking the government’s plans to curb boycotts of Israel. She put her name to the call for an end to arms trading with Israel, claiming Israel “attacks Palestinians with impunity”.

She was also forced to suspend a Parliamentary aide last September after discovering the advisor had posted an image on social media of dead children with a swastika next to an Israeli flag imposed alongside.

The Labour leader’s office this afternoon confirmed the two MPs would take on the work, but there was later confusion over whether they had been officially appointed.

The Shadow Minister role undertaken by Ms Butler had seen her attempt to work with Jewish communal organisations and she was dubbed the “Shadow Minister for Jews”.

Ms Osamor also serves in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet as Shadow International Development Secretary. She is MP for Edmonton in London.

Ms Champion, MP for Rotherham in south Yorkshire, is also Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities. 

A senior Labour source said: "Neither are 'anti-Israel' but have opposed actions taken by the government, as many in Israel and the Jewish community in the UK have as well."

Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: "If the Labour Party wants to appoint a Shadow Minister to work with the Jewish community, we will be pleased to work with her, as we did with her predecessor. 

"Irrespective of an individual MP’s previous views, Labour Party policy is to oppose any boycotts of Israel and we would hope that any Shadow Minister would be bound by that policy.”

A senior Jewish communal source said: "Past track-records do not make these two obvious candidates for this sensitive role.

"In any case, personnel changes risk appearing like mere window dressing if the party does not tackle the problem of antisemitism with clear determination and concrete action.

"It is to be hoped that Sarah Champion and Kate Osamor will have at least demanded real clout before taking on this brief. Without that, the task may be doomed to end in failure and in their personal embarrassment."

A senior figure in Mr Corbyn’s office later attempted to clarify the confusion and said: “Sarah has not been appointed to the brief. It is correct to say there might be some covering of responsibilities, informally, until the full time appointment is made."

It was not clear whether Ms Champion was aware of her "informal responsibility", and the source admitted it was "mostly Kate who is doing the work".

He added: “The long term appointment is likely to be made pretty soon.”

He was unable to confirm whether the appointment would be one person in the role or two. He also admitted: “It is true that Dawn Butler has been carrying on some of the work she has been doing with the support of the Labour leadership but not as a shadow minister.”

• This story has been amended