Veteran Labour activist Peter Willsman has been expelled from the party for claiming in 2019 that antisemitism allegations against Jeremy Corbyn had been “whipped up” by the Israeli embassy.

Mr Willsman had been a member of Labour’s ruling national executive council (NEC) until his suspension from the body and the party in May 2019 after a recording surfaced of a conversation between Mr Willsman and American-Israeli author Tuvia Tenenbom.

In the conversation, that was recorded without Mr Willsman knowledge, he said Labour’s antisemitism crisis was “all lies” and that critics of Mr Corbyn were using claims of antisemitism to “whip people up”.

Mr Willsman said: “It’s almost certain who is behind all this antisemitism against Jeremy… Almost certainly it was the Israeli embassy. Because they caught somebody in the Labour Party - it turns out they were an agent in the embassy.

“The thing is that the people that are in the Labour Party doing it are people who are linked… one of them works indirectly for the Israeli embassy.”

Mr Willsman also previously said he had never seen antisemitism in Labour, blaming Jewish “Trump fanatics” for inventing the issue, and challenged the 68 rabbis who wrote a joint open letter to the party alleging “severe and widespread” antisemitism to provide evidence.

In response to the news of Mr Willsman’s expulsion, Mike Katz, National Chair of Jewish Labour Movement, tweeted: “Good riddance to old rubbish. Willsman was on the NEC when he attacked Rabbis from across the UK Jewish community by smearing them as ‘Trump supporting fanatics’. 

“It’s about time he was expelled. This antisemitic behaviour has no place in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.”

Good riddance to old rubbish. Willsman was on the NEC when he attacked Rabbis from across the UK Jewish community by smearing them as ‘Trump supporting fanatics’. It’s about time he was expelled. This antisemitic behaviour has no place in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. https://t.co/SKeLR9cWu2

— Mike Katz (@mikekatz) November 22, 2022

Jewish Voice for Labour told the JC: “The expulsion of long-serving Labour Party NEC member Pete Willsman is the inevitable conclusion of a process which has seen hundreds of left wingers driven out on the basis of unfounded allegations of antisemitism.

“The current party leadership has been clear that it intends to eradicate all trace of the Corbyn era, waging a factional campaign that has nothing to do with protecting Jews from antisemitism.”