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A CANDIDATE for the chair of Young Labour has withdrawn from the contest after posts emerged of her expressing her admiration for the physical attractiveness of Nazis.
Eluned Anderson, a 21-year-old regional ambassador of the Holocaust Educational Trust, issued a statement over the weekend saying she was withdrawing her candidacy.
Backed by the Jewish Labour Movement, Ms Anderson was in the running to chair Labour’s youth wing until comments that she posted on in the Young Free Speech Society’s group emerged.
A member posted on the Facebook group in January 2019: “Have you ever met/seen/know [sic] of a physically attractive Nazi?”
Ms Anderson replied: “Look, I know they were evil bastards, but Eichmann and a young Ribbentrop were incredibly good looking.”
Jewish-Chinese Labour member Kayleigh Lee-Simion, with the Twitter handle @LeftJewasian, tweeted: “Discussing the attractiveness of Nazis is beyond offensive to the Jewish community and others.
“Doing so in a group filled with Holocaust denial is even worse. I hope Eluned will listen to the minorities offended by this, realise how insensitive this is and apologise for this comment.
“My family was killed by the Nazis. Seeing one terrifies me and brings significant intergenerational trauma.”
Ms Anderson said: “I want to sincerely apologise to the Jewish community for my comment. There is absolutely no excuse for having made it. This comment was stupid and I was stupid to make it.”
Posts can also be found of her smearing former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as an “anti-semite” and former Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey as a “racist.”
David Rosenberg of the Jewish Socialists’ Group said it was good that Ms Anderson had stood down.
“[She] had joined those falsely accusing Jeremy Corbyn of being antisemitic. Her tweet yesterday showed just how cynical that was,” he said.