UK Labour Party suspends lawmaker over anti-Semitism remarks

LONDON – Britain’s main opposition Labour Party says it has suspended a lawmaker who was filmed telling a meeting that the party had been “too apologetic” and “given too much ground” in its response to anti-Semitism allegations.

Labour said Wednesday that Chris Williamson had been suspended from the party pending an investigation.

The party called the comments “deeply offensive and inappropriate.”

Williamson later apologized, saying he had not intended to “minimize the cancerous and pernicious nature of anti-Semitism,” but many colleagues and Jewish groups rejected his apology.

Labour has been riven by allegations that the party has become hostile to Jews under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime supporter of the Palestinians.

Last week nine lawmakers quit the party to sit as independents, partly over the party’s failure to root out anti-Semitism.