Niki Ashton rejects endorsement from alleged Holocaust denier

NDP MP Niki Ashton asks a question during Question Period in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 4, 2015. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA - Federal NDP leadership contender Niki Ashton is rejecting an endorsement from a supporter who's been accused of holding anti-Semitic views, including denying the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Ashton says she "in no way" supports such views and does "not accept support from people who hold such views."

Ashton posed for a photo with Nazih Khatatba at a fundraiser in Mississauga, Ont., earlier this month hosted by the Palestine Aid Society.

Khatatba subsequently used the photo in an endorsement of Ashton on Facebook; she also got a front page endorsement in an Arabic language newspaper edited by Khatatba.

B'nai Brith Canada, which is dedicated to combating anti-Semitism, drew Ashton's attention to what it says is Khatatba's long history of anti-Semitism.

The group says Khatatba has called Jewish suffering "a fairy tale" and has denied the extermination of millions of Jews by Nazis during the Holocaust.

B'nai Brith also says the newspaper Khatatba edits has supported acts of terrorism, including a 2014 massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue in which one Canadian citizen was among those killed.