Corbyn trades barbs with Netanyahu

A furore over alleged anti-semitism in Britain's main opposition party widened when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn exchanged accusations on Twitter over Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.

Labour has been wrestling accusations of anti-semitism for months, and Corbyn has previously apologised for what he has described as "pockets" of anti-semitism in the organisation.

Britain's right-leaning Daily Mail on Friday reported that Corbyn, on a visit to Tunisia in 2014, had laid a wreath at the graves of members of a Palestinian group that killed 11 Israeli athletes and a German policeman at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Unimpressed, Netanyahu said in a tweet:

"The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorists who perpetrated the Munich massacre and his comparison of Israel to the Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone – left, right and everything in between."

Corbyn, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause,  responded: "Netanyahu's claims about my actions and words are false. What deserves unequivocal condemnation is the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March, including dozens of children."