Jeremy Corbyn's brother insists Red Ken was 'misunderstood' when he claimed Hitler supported Zionism as Labour suspends another TWO councillors over anti-Semitism claims

• e-mail

Piers Corbyn today claimed Ken Livingstone was 'misunderstood' when he claimed Hitler supported Zionism before he 'went mad and killed six million Jews'.

The brother of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn waded into the race-row engulfing the Labour Party to claim there was 'too much sensitivity' surrounding anti-Semitism.

Former London mayor Mr Livingstone threw the final days of Labour's election campaign into chaos with his incendiary remarks last week.

A spokesman for the Labour leader today said it was a 'family matter' and Jeremy Corbyn was not responsible for his brother's statements. 

Labour was today forced to suspend another two local councillors as claims continued to emerge about anti-Semitic remarks made by Labour politicians.

Piers Corbyn today claimed Ken Livingstone had been 'misunderstood' in an explosive row over anti-Semitism which is rocking Labour 

In an unrelated row, Labour's London mayor candidate Sadiq Khan today issued a grovelling apology for referring to moderate Muslims as 'Uncle Toms'.

Piers Corbyn today told the Evening Standard: 'I think Ken has been misunderstood, because he has been talking actual history which now looks incomprehensible.

'We can't understand now the context those things happened in, but there is numbers of historical documents around which seem to bear out some things that Ken has said.'

'But they've been taken out of context.'

Asked if Mr Livingstone's comments were anti-Semitic, he added: 'You have to look into the whole history of what happened in Germany.

'The relationship between Nazis and the Jews, and Russia, have been complicated and there have been serious alliances, or mutual supports, or dealings which are difficult to understand now.

'But there have been arrangements that went on, or certainly some type of understandings going on between Hitler and Zionists.'

Piers is not currently a member of the Labour Party.

Labour today confirmed suspensions, pending investigation, of Miqdad Al-Nuaimi and Terry Kelly.

Both were named on the Guido Fawkes political blog which has been responsible for unearthing a string of anti-Semitic claims.

Miqdad Al-Nuaimi was one of two Labour councillors who joined the suspension list earlier today after more anti-Semitic social media posts emerged 

The website triggered the scandal which has rocked Labour when it revealed Bradford West MP Naz Shah shared a graphic claiming Israel should be 'relocated' to the United States.  

Mr Al-Nuaimi, a Labour councillor in Newport, published tweets alleging a link between Israel and the ISIS terror group.

In other messages, he said: 'Jews in whose name Israel Zionist regime commit war crimes should worry it's the same arrogant mentality as Nazis.'

Mr Kelly, a Labour councillor in Renfrewshire, posted blogs protesting the influence of the 'Jewish lobby' and comparing the actions of Israelies to the Holocaust.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: 'Miqdad Al-Nuaimi has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.'

She added: 'Terry Kelly has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.' 

The new suspensions bring to 18 the number of Labour Party politicians who have faced investigation for anti-Semitism.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn's office said: 'In the time he has been leader, 18 people have been suspended in relation to anti-Semitic allegations or incidents and every single one of those has taken place within 48 hours.

'I should say getting on for half of those relate to incidents or online posts from before Jeremy Corbyn was leader.

'He's taken more action, more quickly than any other Labour leader or any leader of a political party.'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been wrestling to get his local election campaign back on track this week amid the continuing row over anti-Semitism