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Vile posts by party members are revealed

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"Zio-scum", "West Bank Nazis", and a depiction of Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire drinking the blood of a Palestinian child are among the antisemitic terms and imagery adopted by Labour members who have been suspended from the party, it has been revealed.

One member posted a mocked-up image of Jeremy Corbyn doing a Nazi salute with the caption: "If Adolf won, then why can't we?"

Another likened Israel to "cancer" and described the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as the "chemotherapy".

The scale and nature of the abuse emerged after Iain McNicol, Labour's general secretary, sent examples to members of Labour's National Executive Committee last week as he outlined the process being used to determine whether party members could vote in this month's leadership election.

He acted after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell claimed supporters of Mr Corbyn were being "purged" from the party.

One image was captioned: If Hitler won, why can't we?

Other abuse revealed by Mr McNicol included remarks about wanting to violently attack Tony Blair, harassment of Labour MPs and death threats.

There was particular focus on "Zionists", with remarks including "Zionists own the media and most of the US arms economy", and "the Zio imperative is for war".

A Labour spokesperson said the party had a "robust validation process" for voters in the leadership contest: "The NEC has always been clear that the party should act against this sort of abuse and that it has no place in the Labour Party. It is right that members who engage in abuse face being suspended.

But the party rejected a Daily Telegraph report that close to 6,000 members had been suspended. "We do not recognise the figure," a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Terence Flanagan, a member of Labour's Hampstead and Kilburn branch, was suspended for remarks about Jews and Israel.

He emailed party members calling for the expulsion of former Labour donor Michael Foster, referring to him as "the Jewish millionaire".

In a separate email Mr Flanagan blamed "the Israeli Mossad Organised Collection" for "orchestrating" attacks on Mr Corbyn.

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