Jeremy Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, is a member of a Facebook group plotting to unseat Sir Keir Starmer that is riddled with antisemitic conspiracy theories.
The Organise Corbyn Inspired Socialist Alliance (OCISA) group, created in February after the Labour leader announced he was barring Corbyn from standing at the next election, features claims that Sir Keir has been “bought and paid for by the Zionists” and that Jews do not suffer racism, merely “prejudice”.
According to posts seen by Sky News, Alvarez has been a member “since day one” and has sent the group’s administrators her “good wishes”.
One administrator of the group, Angie Stack, shared a JC interview in which Sir Keir declared that Israel “is not an apartheid state”. In response, a member wrote: “Israelis have recreated the genocide inflicted upon them by the Nazis [while] the whole world turns a blind eye.”
Another member posted an edited image of Sir Keir in front of an Israeli flag alongside a fake quote that reads: “We stand up for Israel, we stand up for Israeli people, we stand up for Israeli interests and we will always put them first.”
Stack wrote: “This just goes to prove that [Sir Keir] has been well bought and paid for, by a foreign government!”
In a separate post, another member, John Bernard, attacked the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), branding the charity “unhinged Zionists” and claiming the group was “almost certainly a venture funded from Tel Aviv”.
The CAA and other “proxy Israeli agencies” such as the Community Security Trust “exaggerated” antisemitism within the Labour Party to “assassinate” Corbyn, he claimed.
Another individual wrote: “[Sir Keir] has been bought and paid for by the Zionists in the party”, while a post from member Tony James claiming Jews do not suffer racism, merely “prejudice”, received hundreds of likes. “Why are Jewish people regarded as a race?… To stifle criticism of the actions of Israel,” James wrote.
Replying, a member said: “[Jewish people] are not Semites, they are Israeli Zionists who are from Eastern Europe.”
OCISA aims to select a unifying left-wing candidate to run in Holborn and St Pancras against Sir Keir and to raise half a million pounds to back them.
The national spotlight on the seat means the group will be able to “bury” the Labour leader, the group has stated.
Commenting on a photo of Sir Keir posted by another OCISA member, Alvarez reportedly wrote “disgusting creature”.
The CAA described the OCISA posts as “utterly repugnant”, adding “no prominent individual should have anything to do with a group like this, let alone be a member”.
Earlier this week Glastonbury Festival cancelled a planned screening of a controversial documentary about Corbyn following a backlash.
Oh, Jeremy Corbyn…The Big Lie was going to be shown in a cinema tent on Sunday afternoon but organisers pulled the screening saying it had “become clear” it was “not appropriate”.
The JC contacted representatives for Alvarez for comment.