Labour councillor suspended for sharing 'anti-semitic' article about Rachel Riley
2 min read
A Labour councillor has been suspended after promoting accusations that TV star Rachel Riley works for "the Israeli state propaganda machine".
Lisa Lewis, who was only elected to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council in May this year, retweeted an article which also claimed the Countdown presenter had waged a “campaign of lies” against Jeremy Corbyn.
It was posted after Ms Riley welcomed moves to stop companies advertising with left-wing website The Canary.
The article said: "For a while now, Rachel Riley has been working – not so clandestinely – for (or with) the Israeli state propaganda machine.
"The attempt has been to lie and deceive people into believing that Jeremy Corbyn, and those media who seek to stand up to the hate and lies of right-wing Zionists and terror supporters against Palestinian women, men and children are anti-Semitic.
"Whether she is paid for her hate and propaganda is not for me to say. But she is obviously a fascist and an Israeli terrorist sympathiser."
After Ms Lewis retweeted it, Ms Riley took a screenshot and tweeted the Labour Party saying: “Found another one of your racist councillors for you.”
PoliticsHome understands Ms Lewis, who represents the West Southbourne ward on the council, has now been suspended by the party, and her Twitter bio no longer says she is a Labour councillor.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of anti-semitism extremely seriously, which are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
“We cannot comment on individual cases."
Ms Lewis has been approached for comment.
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