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Labour shadow immigration minister shared antisemitic conspiracy theory

Manchester Gorton MP Afzal Khan shared the Facebook post in 2015 when he was an MEP

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Labour's shadow immigration minister has apologised for sharing what he has described as an “antisemitic conspiracy” on social media.

Manchester Gorton MP Afzal Khan shared the Facebook post in 2015 when he was an MEP for the North West of England.

Mr Khan shared a post featuring a video of the US comedian Jon Stewart talking about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu which included text referring to an "Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate" and "mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars".

He told the BBC: "I am mortified and sincerely sorry about this genuine accident.

During the 2014 Gaza conflict, Mr Khan tweeted an article with the headline: “The Israeli government are acting like Nazi’s [sic] in Gaza.”

In March 2017, when it emerged he was running for Parliament, he told the JC his tweet had not been an endorsement of the article.

“I have long since deleted this tweet and when this issue was raised with me last year I apologised for any offence caused,” Mr Khan said.

He claimed the episode was being used to “smear” him, and cited his years of work on groups tackling antisemitism as an example of his opposition to hatred.

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