Labour candidate dropped over ‘Israel learnt from Hitler’ and Rothschild posts

A Labour council candidate in Lancashire has been suspended after allegedly antisemitic social media posts were flagged to the party, according to a report.

Harry Virco will be standing in next month’s Fylde borough council election despite his suspension as it was too late to remove him from the ballot paper, The Times reports.

A party source told the newspaper that were Virco to be elected, he would sit on the council as an independent.

A tweet sent from Virco’s account last year said: “Has Israel & the Jewish people learned nothing from their persecution under Hitler?

“Yes they have! They now know how to persecute other people & especially children.”

A post from January reads: “Israel is turning itself into a Neo-Nazi [sic] state.”

In 2017, Virco reportedly shared an article, adding: “Disgusting pair Murdoch/Rothschild Israel Exposed Secretly Paying Syrian ‘Rebels’ to Protect Rothschild Murdoch Oil”.

A party spokeswoman told The Times that  Labour takes “all complaints about antisemitism extremely seriously”.