Ken Livingstone has denied comments he made about Adolf Hitler harmed Labour's election results, as more incendiary remarks made by the former London mayor emerged in which he said the creation of the state of Israel was "a great catastrophe".
Mr Livingstone, who was suspended from the party last week after suggesting Adolf Hitler supported Zionism before he "went mad", returned to the airwaves on election day blaming "far right" Labour MPs for stoking up division in the party.
Questioned on the fallout from his comments, he told Sky News: "The simple fact is, so many people have gone on to the internet now, they have seen Joseph Finkelstein's brilliant interview.
"A lot of people, it's a shock to discover there had been that relationship between a small section of the Jewish community in Germany and Adolf Hitler but it's historically true.
"And the simple reality of all of that is we shouldn't be ashamed about some of the mistakes our government has made in the past and I don't think the people of Israel, don't need to be ashamed of what happened 80 years ago."
HIs comments followed the emergence of a new interview in which he said that creating Israel was "fundamentally wrong".
In an interview with Arabic TV station Al Ghad Al Arabi filmed on 20 April and broadcast on Wednesday, he said: “The creation of the state of Israel was fundamentally wrong, because there had been a Palestinian community there for 2,000 years.”
Mr Livingstone, who was suspended from the party last week after suggesting Adolf Hitler supported Zionism before he "went mad", returned to the airwaves on election day blaming "far right" Labour MPs for stoking up division in the party.
Questioned on the fallout from his comments, he told Sky News: "The simple fact is, so many people have gone on to the internet now, they have seen Joseph Finkelstein's brilliant interview.
"A lot of people, it's a shock to discover there had been that relationship between a small section of the Jewish community in Germany and Adolf Hitler but it's historically true.
"And the simple reality of all of that is we shouldn't be ashamed about some of the mistakes our government has made in the past and I don't think the people of Israel, don't need to be ashamed of what happened 80 years ago."
HIs comments followed the emergence of a new interview in which he said that creating Israel was "fundamentally wrong".
In an interview with Arabic TV station Al Ghad Al Arabi filmed on 20 April and broadcast on Wednesday, he said: “The creation of the state of Israel was fundamentally wrong, because there had been a Palestinian community there for 2,000 years.”
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