The JNF has said that a comedian’s comment that the charity is “racist” is “his most comical yet.”

Ivor Dembina banned comedians from his Traditional Jewish Xmas Eve Show if they had performed at the JNF annual Kosher Komedy Night.

He explained that he believed the pro-Israel charity was “racist in its outlook”, and said he regarded it in the same light as the British National Party and the English Defence League.

But JNF chairman Samuel Hayek responded by saying that Mr Dembina was “extremely ill informed”.

Mr Hayek said: “To put JNF Charitable Trust in the same category as the BNP and EDL by calling us racist is extremely ill informed; we exist to enrich and transform the lives of people living in the Negev region of Israel, regardless of their ethnicity or faith; where there is desperate need.

“Nobody finds that funny, least of all the Bedouins in the city of Rahat where the JNF Charitable Trust recently provided mobile shelters to protect them against missile attacks from Gaza.”