Cathy Newman has slapped down an “anti-Semitic rant” directed at her by a Labour activist - by pointing out she’s not even Jewish.
The Channel 4 News anchor was sent a stream of tweets by Labour activist Kevine Walcott, who has now been reported to Labour’s compliance team over the tirade.
Newman blocked at least one Twitter user, after being bombarded with abuse when she interviewed Jackie Walker, the Vice Chair of Momentum who has been pressured to quit over anti-Semitism claims.
She was called a “usless zionist bitch [sic]” by one user, and says she blocked them and reported them to Twitter.
Newman chose to share the abuse, saying she wanted people to know “this is what you get for asking legitimate questions about anti-Semitism.”
But in response she was attacked by Walcott, who is a “Labour activist” according to her Twitter biography.
Walcott attacked Newman over the abuse, saying “self-pity won’t work here” and claiming the journalist’s “Jewish ancestors committed an holocaust against my ancestors in the transatlantic slave trade”.
Newman replied to clarify she wasn’t Jewish and that she agreed the slave trade was a “scar on humanity”.
But Walcott continued to attack her:
To which Newman responded:
Walcott also called another Twitter user a “slave-trade denier” and claimed that Jewish people are “so proud of their role in the slave trade”.
Louise Mensch called Walcott’s posts “a string of vicious tweets” and said she initially thought the Twitter account might be parody. “It appears not to be,” Mensch wrote on Heat Street.
Many Twitter users called for Walcott to be banned from Labour after the tweet:
Jo Green, Labour’s former head of press, said he had reported Walcott to the party’s compliance team, which considers whether people are eligible to be Labour members.
Louise Mensch listed some of Walcott’s alleged “greatest hits” from her Twitter profile, including reportedly saying: ““Jews ran slavery”, “It’s time you apologize to for the slave trade” (to a Jew) “More people died in slavery than the holocaust and Jews ran slavery” to Cathy Newman “You and Jewish community has [sic] never apologise for your well documented role in the slave trade and its the greatest holocaust” and many, many more.”
Newman also retweeted a reply she received from a Twitter user saying “any online discussion about Labour “will eventually become an argument about anti-Semitism.”