A bitter face-off between a Labour election candidate defending a majority of over 9,000, and anti-Israel extremists determined to unseat him, has broken out in east London.

Leaflets distributed all over Ilford South described Mike Gapes as a "pro-war, pro-Israel and Islamophobic MP."

Mr Gapes, who was chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, hit back at the personal attack by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), describing it as "poisonous."

In a message to Muslims, a significant proportion of the electorate in Ilford South, MPAC described the Mr Gapes, who is associated with Labour Friends of Israel, as a "leading member of the pro-Israel lobby."

Mr Gapes, who has represented Ilford South since 1992, has been regularly targeted by Muslim extremists. In the 2005 general election his campaign workers were heckled and threatened as they canvassed voters.

MPAC described the leaflets as "nothing more than Gapes's voting record and a selection of [his] pro-Israel and pro-war comments. How terrible is it that we would print his own comments and expose him to the very Muslims that voted for him for more than 10 years?"

Tory candidate Toby Boutle, a former speechwriter for William Hague, said he had been aware of the attacks on Mr Gapes but advised voters to take note of the government's record when voting against Labour.

However LibDem candidate, Kuwaiti-born Anood Al-Samerai, had little time for the attacks on her Labour rival. "Yes, Mr Gapes is pro-Israel and his voting record shows it. But it is an emotive issue and we should be looking for a peaceful solution rather than raising the tension," she said.