The Acorn union has expelled an individual from its organisation after a man attempting to join its Manchester branch was sent two Instagram messages saying “no time for Zionists” and “we are a pro-Palestine organisation”.
The renters’ union, which conducted an internal investigation when it was alerted to the messages on Sunday, expelled the person — who has not been identified — after a national board meeting on Tuesday evening, and offered a profound apology to the recipient of the messages and the Jewish community.
Acorn bills itself as “a community-based union of working class people — tenants, workers, residents”, which fights to give low in-come communities a better life.
The man, whose Instagram profile clearly shows that he is Jewish — his photo features an Israeli flag and he uses Hebrew — had attempted to join Acorn after seeing a Manchester city centre demonstration on behalf of renters. He said: “I am a renter myself and I wanted to give support and also get some protection”.