Jenny Manson, co-chair of the controversial pro-Jeremy Corbyn group Jewish Voice For Labour, has said she is not “in the slightest bit embarrassed” about expressing support for the hyper-partisan, pro-Corbyn website The Canary.
Ms Manson sent a link instructing Barnet Momentum members on how to support the website after it announced that it was suffering financially in the wake of a campiagn by pressure group Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN), which has urged brands not to advertise on The Canary.
The blog, which publishes articles attacking critics of Mr Corbyn's Labour - including those highlighting anti-Jewish racism – emailed supporters saying its business model "no longer works" because of advertisers abandoning it.
The Canary has denied accusations of antisemitism but then claimed it was forced to downsize by "political Zionists".
"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," it 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."
In response to the news, Ms Manson, who has routinely sought to dismiss antisemitism in the Labour party, sent a link of the JC article about the The Canary's financial problems to a “Momentum discussion” group, accompanied by a link instructing people on how to support the blog.
When asked why she sent the link to members, she said she refused to comment on “private emails”.
However, she added: “I have no problem in saying that there is nothing in the slightest bit embarrassing for me about supporting The Canary.”
The news about The Canary’s failing model was celebrated by the Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) campaign.
The campaign has targeted many partisan websites 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 antisemitic comments.
