Labour has suspended three councillors in a day over a series of controversial messages posted on social media.

The latest elected representative to be suspended pending an investigation is Burnley councillor Shah Hussain, who told an Israeli footballer on Twitter "you and your country" are "doing exactly the same thing" that Hitler did, in a reference to the violence against Palestinians.

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His suspension follows that of Salim Mulla, a Blackburn with Darwen councillor and Nottingham City councillor Ilyas Aziz over their own controversial social media posts about Israel.

Mr Hussain intervened in a Twitter conversation in 2014 between footballers Joey Barton and Yossi Benayoun over the conflict in Gaza.

He told Benayoun: "You are an complete and utter plonker, you and your country doing the same thing that hitler did to ur race in ww2"

Mr Hussain told the Press Association he would "most definitely" fight the suspension and added: "If Jewish people find it offensive then I think they need to think about what the rest of the world thinks."

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He said: "I wanted him to reflect on what Hitler did to the Jewish people, and then I wanted him to reflect on that and to see what's happening in Palestine, can it be seen as the same?"

The councillor said he would make that case when he speaks to the Labour Party authorities.

The moves come after Jeremy Corbyn insisted the party is "united" in opposing anti-Semitism in the wake of a turbulent week which has also seen the suspension of MP Naz Shah and former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

The messages posted by the three councillors were highlighted by the Guido Fawkes, which reported that Mr Mulla shared a message suggesting Israel should be relocated to the United States - the same post as Ms Shah which led to her apologising in the Commons and having the whip withdrawn.

Another post, from 2014, apparently showed footage of a Palestinian boy being arrested with a comment from Mr Mulla saying: "Apartheid at its best. Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity."

Among Facebook posts from Mr Aziz's account was a comment saying: "Jews and Muslims lived together in the Middle East, in peace pre 1948. Perhaps it would have been wiser to create Israel in America it's big enough. They could relocate even now."

Mr Aziz claimed he had not written the post from 2014, although it remained on his Facebook page.

Posting a link to an article about Nazi Germany in 2014, he said: "A reminder of the treatment and suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany. ARE THERE ANY SIMILARITIES TO HOW ISRAEL IS TREATING PALESTINIANS."

On the comparison with the Nazis, Mr Aziz said: "That one possibly (was) because you make a comparison that it's wrong, that nobody should be doing that."

Asked whether he thought that people who criticised Israeli policy faced being accused of anti-Semitism, he said: "I think you need to be careful.

"The thing you have got to try and appreciate is that if a particular government - whether it's the Israeli government, whether it's the British government - if the government is actually doing something wrong they should be criticised.

"But not the population itself, it's got nothing to do with them, it's got nothing to do with the religion."

He added that "as politicians you need to be careful" and said he supported the suspensions imposed on Ms Shah and Mr Livingstone "but at the same time I'm also a great believer that justice should be done and I think they should do a swift inquiry into exactly what the feelings are and if the party feels that they have crossed a boundary then yes, they should be suspended or expelled".

The decisive action to suspend all three councillors pending investigations comes after Mr Corbyn was previously accused of responding too slowly to deal with similar incidents, most notably his ally Mr Livingstone's incendiary assertion, while defending Ms Shah, that Hitler was supporting Zionism before he "went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".

The Labour leader has announced an independent review and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct on anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in a bid to put a lid on the furore.

But he faced calls from Israeli politicians and diplomats to give a more "unequivocal" condemnation and warnings - including from the party's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan - that the party would be punished in the May 5 elections.

The Times suggested that frontbenchers could resign within weeks in protest at Mr Corbyn's handling of the anti-Semitism row and the prospect of electoral setbacks on Thursday.

But former minister Iain Wright told BBC Radio 4's Today there would be no move against Mr Corbyn in the "short term".

Asked if he would "live or die" by the results on Thursday, he said: "I think we will do well in London, in my constituency in Hartlepool we have got elections both in terms of the local council and police and crime commissioners - I hope we do well, the expectations are that we will.

"So I don't think that question arises in the immediate short term.