A TOP Labour MP is under fire after suggesting the police should do “everything within their powers” to crack down on anti-Zionists in Britain.

Rachel Reeves has been urged to clarify her comments from October, which sparked controversy after re-emerging on Twitter/X on Sunday.

The shadow chancellor was recorded at a Labour Friends of Israel vigil held three days after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 saying that antisemitism and anti-Israeli feeling had been “allowed to flourish in some communities in Britain”.

She said: “I also know that many of you have concerns closer to home, about the antisemitism, the anti-Zionism and the anti-Israeli feeling that is allowed to flourish in some communities in Britain.

“And so we stand alongside you here at home as well and will ensure that the police do everything within their powers to hold responsible anybody who behaves in that way here at home.

“And we stand in solidarity with the Jewish community here in Britain, not just today but every single day.”

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Her comments were met with applause from attendees, who included Labour leader Keir Starmer, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.

But they have also been met with criticism for suggesting that the police should crack down on anti-Zionists – who are people opposed to the state of Israel, accusing it of being a settler-colonialist project based on the subjugation of Palestinians.

Mish Rahman, a member of Labour’s ruling body, said: “I think Rachel [Reeves] needs to clarify which communities are allowing antisemitism to flourish especially as it seems to be Islamophobia week in discourse, don't want people to interprete it as a dogwhistle, surely.”

Chris McEleny, the general secretary of the Alba Party, told The National: "We should reject the rhetoric of fools like Rachel Reeves.

"People in Gaza are suffering. Nations of the world with influence should be working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that Israel stops its offensive which is resulting in the death and suffering of women, children and countless innocents, and that Hamas respects an immediate ceasefire."

Others also took to social media to express their concerns about Reeves’s comments.

One Twitter/X user wrote: “So here we have Rachel Reeves a senior Labour politician threatening ‘some communities’ with the full force of the police if they are seen to be anti-Zionist or to be against what the Israeli state is doing in Gaza; the Islamophobia is barely concealed.”

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Another wrote: “If you are against genocide, Rachel Reeves will be coming to prosecute you.”

It comes amid intense pressure on Labour over its stance on Gaza, where the death toll is nearing 30,000 since October 7.

Starmer found himself the subject of fierce criticism last year when he suggested Israel had the right to cut off supplies of water and electricity in Gaza. The Labour leader later walked back the comments.

Labour has now changed its position on the conflict and is calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

A Labour spokesperson said: "It's a sad fact that antisemitism exists in Britain, and that there was a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. That is the point Rachel Reeves was making."