Expelled Labour activist Tony Greenstein standing to be secretary of PSC

A Jewish anti-Zionist who was expelled from the Labour party is standing to be secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Tony Greenstein, expelled from Labour nine months ago over abusive behaviour, accused the PSC on his blog of “self congratulation, timidity and caution bordering on obsequiousness”.

Greenstein, who has also been expelled from the Unison trades union, also accused the PSC of avoiding using the word Zionism “like the plague”.

In his long, rambling blog post on Wednesday, Greenstein singled out the welcome that the PSC gave to shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry as one of the reasons it had gone off course.

He wrote: “In the bulletin sent out on 9th December headed ‘An incredible month for the Palestinian solidarity movement.’ there was a photograph of a PSC meeting in the House of Commons with Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary addressing the meeting. This is the same Emily Thornberry who is quoted as stating that: ‘People who believe Israel does not have the right to exist should be drummed out of the Labour Party.’

“Far from challenging Thornberry to disavow her support for Labour Friends of Israel PSC uncritically gives her a platform. In an interview with The Standard she boasted that ‘I joined Labour Friends of Israel when I became an MP in 2005. I support the Palestinians’ right to have a state and I support the state of Israel’.”