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Pro-Corbyn website The Canary denies it is antisemitic, then blames 'political Zionists' for forcing it to downsize

Leftwing blog, which has been accused of producing 'fake news', says its advertising revenue is under fire

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Pro-Jeremy Corbyn website The Canary has denied "accusations of antisemitism" - and then claimed it has been forced to downsize by "political Zionists".

The website, which writes charged, partisan articles attacking critics of Mr Corbyn's Labour - including those highlight anti-Jewish racism within Labour - emailed supporters saying its business model "no longer works" because of advertisers abandoning it.

"Despite clearly being against the actions of a state, not against Jewish people as an ethic group, we've been smeared with accusations of antisemitism," its message said.

"Accusations stick, despite facts to the contrary. This means advertisers are susceptible to pressure from political Zionists and our advertising revenue is under fire."

The news was shared by the Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) campaign, which has targeted brands whose adverts appeared on The Canary and urged them to take action to remove them. 

The campaign has targeted many partisan websites, including The Canary, on both the left and the right, by urging advertisers to ditch them.

Macmillan Cancer Care, Ted Baker, WWF and Moonpig are among the brands that had said they would pull their adverts from the site after SFFN asked them to do so.

SFFN has accused The Canary of "publishing fake news... to justify antisemitism". It highlighted how the site has claimed it is "not antisemitic" to compare Israel to Nazi Germany and defended activists like Jackie Walker, who has since been expelled by Labour for her comments about antisemitism.

In its message to supporters, The Canary said that, from mid-August, its freelance authors would be limited in how much they can write.

Countdown presenter Rachel Riley, who has suffered antisemitic abuse for speaking out, tweeted: "Bye bye Birdie!"

"Proof that lying and hate-mongering DOESN'T pay once it's exposed," she wrote.

The Holocaust Educational Trust's Karen Pollock tweeted simply: "Brilliant"

Steve Topple, who previously wrote extensively for The Canary, shared antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media.

Mr Topple previously said that Jews should be held responsible for the “growing Zionist cancer”, and suggested that Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was a “puppet” of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, her Jewish predecessor, and the Rothschild family.

Mr Topple apologised for his “previous comments” in 2016.

Last December, comedian Nish Kumar apologised after his programme, The Mash Report, featured Mr Topple as a guest.

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