Acclaimed author J. K. Rowling, an outspoken critic of rising levels of anti-Semitism in Britain, lashed back on Wednesday against a racist smear of comedian Stephen Fry, Benjamin Kerstein reported for The Algemeiner.

The controversy arose when Rowling tweeted her support for Fry, a well-known British-Jewish comedian and actor, after he defended Rachel Riley, a TV star who has criticized rising levels of anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Far-left ex-MP George Galloway responded to Fry’s statement, “I stand with you, Rachel,” by tweeting: “Dumbfounding. She calls Chomsky (or Chomski as she styles him) an anti-Semite and slanders half the Labour Party as the same. 1980’s left-wing comedy icon and all round gent backs…her!”

In August 2014, Galloway was interviewed by police under caution, after claims that he incited racial hatred by declaring his constituency, Bradford, an “Israel-free zone.”

In response to Galloway’s remarks about Fry, an account called “Stafford 4 Jeremy Corbyn” tweeted, “Don’t forget @stephenfry make money from the potter books. Can’t have him upsetting @jk_rowling.”

Rowling fired back, writing, “Nothing says ‘our movement has no problem with antisemitism’ than suggesting a man of Jewish ancestry is secretly motivated by fear of losing money. But thanks for tagging me in, @stafford4jc. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you to go f–k yourself.”

In August 2018, Rowling entered a heated exchange on Twitter, after author Simon Maginn called Jewish outrage over Corbyn’s 2013 comments indicating that “Zionists” do not understand British culture “patently synthetic outrage,” and demanded that a Jewish tweeter explain his “deep and wounding sense of injury.”

In October, Rowling responded to an article written by a Jewish ex-Labour member, saying that it is “the most profoundly shocking first-hand account of what it’s like to be a Jew in the Labour Party in 2018.”

[Photo: Executive Office of the President / WikiCommons ]