A top-ranking Human Rights Watch official has claimed the Israeli government is interfering in domestic UK politics.
"Why is this Israel interference in domestic UK politics acceptable?" Sarah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, tweeted on Saturday. "Is it only a problem when Russia does this?"
Whitson was commenting on an article posted on The Electronic Intifada, a Chicago-based website that promotes a pro-Palestinian perspective. The article, titled, "Israel running campaign against Jeremy Corbyn," said the Israeli government operates an application that urges its users to call out Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for antisemitism.
The Sunday Times newspaper recently uncovered an event from 2010 in which Corbyn compared the Israeli government to the Nazis. The application, called Act.IL, asked its users to call out Corbyn's remarks.
The Electronic Intifada denied that the 2010 event was antisemitic, arguing that it included "a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and an anti-Zionist who spoke out strongly for Palestinian rights."
The Act.IL website says the application - a joint venture of the Israeli American Council (IAC) and the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) - was created with the aim of using social media to combat the BDS (boycott, sanctions, and divestment) movement and delegitimization of the State of Israel.
StandWithUS, a pro-Israel education and advocacy organization based in Los Angeles, called Whitson's claims antisemitic and a conspiracy theory.
"Executive Director of @hrw, @sarahleah1 shares antisemitic conspiracy theories on "'manufactured antisemitism crises"' of the UK's Labour Party, then claims it’s because of '"Israel interference,"' StandWithUs tweeted on Sunday.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
