Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London seeking to reclaim his post, used language that was nearly “classic anti-Semitism” in a meeting with the city’s Jewish community leaders, the leaders said.

Livingstone, of the Labor Party, said the Jewish community would not vote for him because “the Jewish community is rich,” according to a letter about the March 1 meeting from the leaders to party leader Ed Miliband. The letter was obtained by London’s Jewish Chronicle.

Livingstone met with the Jewish leaders to discuss his support of radical Muslim cleric Sheik Yusuf al Qaradawi and his accepting money from Iranian state broadcaster Press TV.

The Jewish leaders also said that Livingstone had used the words Zionist, Jewish and Israeli interchangeably and “in a pejorative manner.”

Livingstone, a frequent critic of Israel, told a London radio station that his words were misinterpreted. — jta