Lee Jasper. Photo: Respectparty.org.

A British politician and race relations activist used the upcoming Holocaust Memorial Day to call Israel a “racist oppressor.”

The comments, first reported by the Jewish Chronicle, were posted to Lee Jasper’s Facebook page. Jasper is a Respect Party politician and a former equalities adviser to former London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Writing that HMD is today – it is in fact later this week – he said: “We are asked to remember that which Israel has forgotten, that religious & racial hatred is a sin against God.”

He added: “Israel has failed to learn the lessons of its own tragic history having evolved into a racist oppressor,” and tagged the comment with “apartheid.”

Jasper’s comments follow those made in October by a Respect party activist who questioned whether Hitler was “the bad guy.”