British MP Rachel Reeves. Photo: Policy Exchange via Flickr.

A prominent pro-Israel UK Labour MP has filed a complaint with her own party after being targeted online by an antisemitic Labour member.

MP Rachel Reeves — who is a former shadow cabinet member and vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel — was attacked after reports emerged that she had told party leader Jeremy Corbyn — who is widely perceived by British Jews to be antisemitic — that he was personally responsible for Labour’s massive electoral defeat in the general election earlier this month.

According to the Yorkshire Post, a Twitter user with the handle GraceForSocialism, believed to be Labour member Grace Halfpenny, posted, “Reeves was parachuted in by New Labour and is a right wing shill for the Apartheid state of Israel.”

In response, Reeves wrote to Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby about what she saw as yet another incident of antisemitic abuse directed at her.

Reeves said her Twitter account “reads like a sewer of falsehoods and obsessive abuse, almost entirely aimed at fellow Labour Party members. This conduct is entirely inappropriate for a member of our Party and [Halfpenny] should be disciplined accordingly.”

“Ms. Halfpenny’s barrage of abusive and false tweets include a number of blatantly antisemitic claims,” she added.

In a more positive development, Reeves’ Conservative party rival Mark Dormer defended her after Halfpenny’s tweet, saying, “I spent five weeks knocking on doors and was repeatedly told how much Rachel Reeves did for the area. Your views are inaccurate and ignorant and your abuse and vile antisemitism has no place in politics or society as a whole.”

Reeves commented on Dormer’s message, “Got to say, this means a lot. … More of this in politics in 2020 would be a good thing!”