Labour's candidate for Finchley and Golders Green has said she "used the wrong word" when she said the party's antisemitism crisis had been "weaponised".
Sara Conway, who is hoping to take the marginal seat from Tory Mike Freer, told the Jewish News the argument over the problem had been "whipped up".
"You can’t weaponise without there being a problem but this issue has been weaponised by certain media commentators. I don’t mean necessarily in the community," she told the paper.
On Twitter, she clarified on Thursday: "I used the wrong word by saying weaponised. I was referring to Far Right commentators particularly on Twitter who use this issue as a political football to create polarisation and division.
"Antisemitism is a very real problem and I was in no way referring those of us fighting it."
Ms Conway, who is a member of the Jewish Labour Movement and a Barnet councillor, also told the Jewish News: "I am a part of the local Jewish community, and I have my own Jewish mother who regularly pulls me up on this stuff on Friday nights.
"I am very, very much a part of the community so I’ve heard and been aware of these issues for a long time."
Mr Freer said: “I condemn the idea that antisemitism has been ‘weaponised’ or ‘drummed up’. Tell that to the number of Labour activists and MPs like Dame Margaret Hodge.
"To suggest that the Commission for Racial Equality have launched an investigation into Labour as being complicit in weaponising the issue is laughable. The Labour candidate shows how out of touch and complacent the Labour Party have become.”
