Israeli Embassy: Diplomat’s retweet of EDL founder was ‘manipulated’

The Israeli Embassy has flatly denied that a senior diplomat retweeted a message from the founder of the English Defence League.

A statement alleged an image that appeared on social media purporting to show Elad Ratson had shared the tweet to his 50,000 followers, was “manipulated”.

The tweet from Tommy Robinson drew a distinction between the stance of Jeremy Corbyn towards Donald Trump versus his position on Iran.

A screen grab appearing to show a retweet by the Embassy’s public diplomacy counsellor was later shared by Amos Schonfield of left-wing group Yachad, who demanded answers “as a Brit, an Israeli, a Jew”. It’s understood the grab was sent to schonfield by a third party within the community.

But the Israeli Embassy told the Jewish News: “The diplomat denies categorically having retweeted this tweet. The embassy stands behind him and considers this image to be manipulated.”

Robinson recently visited Israel but his rhetoric towards Muslims – including describing the Koran as a “cursed book” on national television – has repeatedly been condemned.

A communal outcry followed an appearance by Robinson in front of a small group of Manchester Jews last summer. The Board of Deputies said at the time his “record of anti-Muslim provocation means he could never be a partner of a respectable or mainstream Jewish organisation”.

Jeremy Newmark, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, tweeted: “If genuine this is appalling and deeply worrying. The diplomat concerned has clearly not had sufficient briefing or training on the UK political arena.”