LABOUR faced ridicule yesterday for illustrating its Passover message online with a loaf of bread – the food Jewish people are forbidden from eating during the religious festival.
The social media mistake led to fresh claims that the party does not care about the Jewish community.
Its official Twitter account posted a picture yesterday morning with the words Happy Passover, and images of the Star of David, a cup of wine and a loaf of bread.
But officials soon had to delete it after dozens of people noticed that risen bread is never eaten during Passover. Jews instead eat flat, unleavened bread to symbolise the fact that Israelites did not have time to allow their loaves to rise before escaping slavery.
Phil Rosenberg, public affairs director of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, wrote: “Which major political party would include a picture of bread in their Passover message? Passover being a festival in which bread is forbidden to Jews. Yep, you guessed it. Labour.”
Another Twitter user said it was “astonishing (but sadly unsurprising) basic religious illiteracy”.
Others joked that the “half-baked” picture showed that Labour officials were “not using their loaf”.
The UKLabour account soon deleted the offending image and replaced it with one just featuring the Star of David.
It comes after months of allegations that anti-Semitism is rampant in the party, prompting an investigation by the human rights watchdog.
