A SCOTTISH Labour councillor suspended after suggesting Israeli spies might be plotting against the party and interfering in British democracy has warned supporters to watch what they say as it could result in further disciplinary action by the party.
Mary Bain Lockhart who says she is "hurt and upset" by events since she claimed Jewish newspapers in the UK may be conspiring with the Israeli secret service, Mossad, to stop Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.
She is being investigated by both the Labour Party and she now says she is under investigation for alleged anti-semitism by the Co-operative Party.
Ms Lockhart, who represents Lochgelly, Cardenden and Benarty on Fife Council, was widely criticised after making the allegation in a now-deleted social media post.
The UK’s three leading Jewish newspapers last week published a joint front page warning a Corbyn-led government would pose an “existential threat to Jewish life in this country”.
Ms Lockhart spoke out about the articles saying they were attacking the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn.
She said: "If the purpose is to generate opposition to anti-semitism, it has backfired spectacularly.
"If it is to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader, it is unlikely to succeed, and is a shameless piece of cynical opportunism."
"If it is a Mossad assisted campaign to prevent the election of a Labour Government pledged to recognise Palestine as a state, it is unacceptable interference in the democracy of Britain.
"Whatever motivates it, and the MPs who exploit it, the Labour Party is neither racist, not anti-semitic. And the hysterical claims that it is, after inquiries, consultation, rule changes, calm and peaceable statements, should not be permitted to further influence the Party's rules."
The comments led to a formal complaint being lodged with Scottish Labour general secretary Brian Roy by the former Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, Thomas Docherty.
Now she has warned supporters to "please, please" be careful of what they say adding: "Mass suspensions and investigations will do none of us any good, and in fact may do considerable harm both to each of us as individuals, and to a Labour Party of democratic socialsts ready to fight for social justice for all.
"If serious allegations are made - and racism of any kind is a serious allegation - then it is right and proper that there should be investigation under the rules of the party.
"I do not resent or object to this process, though of course I am hurt and upset that I am in it.
"However, I feel it will have served some purpose if I bear it's burden, knowing as I do that I am supported, but also secure in the knowledge that my friends do not have to go through it too."
The warning came as supporters registered their disgust at the party action with messages on Facebook.
One supporter, Michael Sneddon said: "I find the present culture distasteful where anyone criticising any part of the present Israeli government or Jews is classed as an anti-semite. Keep strong I am sure we will get through this and you will be vindicated."
Ms Lockhart’s suspension comes as Labour continues to wrestle with anti-Semitism in its ranks, with in-fighting among MPs exacerbated by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee refusing to adopt an international standard definition of anti-semitism.
The NEC’s decision has led to further infighting, with shadow Chancellor John McDonnell now reported to have criticised Mr Corbyn’s handling of the crisis.
Two years ago, when Ms Lockhart was Scottish Labour's newest councillor she was accused of linking her own party's officials to Nazis in a post on Facebook.
She had been protesting a decision to ban a number of Labour members from voting in the upcoming leadership contest.
In response, the Fife councillor quoted a famous poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller about Nazis persecution.
Ms Lockhart wrote on Facebook: “Who will they expel next? I have friends who are genuinely fearful!”
Underneath, she posted: "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
"Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
Scottish Labour said at the time that the comparison was “unacceptable”.
Ms Lockhart apologised for any offence caused and added: "I have found Pastor Neimoller’s most widely quoted poem inspiring since I first encountered it when the Rector of my school used it as a text on which to base his address at a school assembly.
"It is, in my view, a poem about having the courage to speak up for others experiencing adversity, whether you agree with their views or not, and it seems to me to underline some of the fundamental values of the Labour Party, namely solidarity.
“In posting it on Facebook, I had no intention of implying that suspensions or expulsions from the Labour Party were comparable to the Holocaust, or to the deliberate extermination of Jewish people, Lutherans, disabled people, and homosexuals which cast a long shadow over the 20th Century and beyond.
"I am deeply sorry if the post, in solidarity with a friend whose membership has been suspended, was interpreted as making such a comparison”.
Ms Lockhart was elected in a by-election following the resignation of Britain's last elected Communist politician.
Her win was hailed by the SNP who pointed out she was a pro-independence candidate.
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