A FORMER Labour MP and independent life peer has been accused of "racism" and "bigotry" after he posted a tweet showing a fake "new flavour" of Ben and Gerry's ice cream for Gaza.

The tweet, by former UK trade envoy to Israel Ian Austin, showed a made-up Ben and Jerry's ice cream tub titled "Hamas Terror Misu".

It then shows a cross-section of the tub with soldiers in underground tunnels and a Palestinian flag on top of a building on the surface.

The tweet reads: "Ben and Jerry’s have stopped selling ice cream in the West Bank, but they’ve introduced new flavours for Gaza."

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It comes as Ben and Jerry's announced it would stop selling its ice cream in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

The company said the sale of its products in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was "inconsistent with our values".

The move was met with anger by the Israeli prime minister, who warned there would be "strong action" against boycotts.

Naftali Bennett warned the US firm's parent company, Unilever, that there would be legal and other consequences.

Responding to the post by the House of Lords member, British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, said: "Pure & simple racism & anti-Palestinian bigotry from a former Labour MP & prominent Israel supporter in the UK. Gaza & Gazans reduced to ‘terrorists’.

"As @PeterBeinart wrote this week, anti-Palestinian bigotry is almost unremarkable & normalized in many pro-Israel circles."

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Journalist Rachel Shabi also replied to the tweet, saying: "Your ignorance and bigotry is beyond painful"

The Labour Muslim Network also condemned the peer for the tweet.

It said: "This is pure Islamophobia by a former Labour MP and should be condemned by every public figure with a conscience.

"Islamophobia is not only rife in our society, it’s mainstream in our politics."

But Austin defended the tweet, stating that it made no mention of race, but only of Hamas.

He said: "How is calling the racist terrorist group Hamas, who execute their opponents, make the lives of the citizens of Gaza a misery, treat women terribly, murder gay people and wage war on Israel, terrorists remotely racist?"

Austin later added: "I did not and never would say 'all Palestinians are supporters of Hamas'. I said Hamas are terrorists. Their brutal dictatorship controls Gaza."

Ben and Jerry's has been contacted for comment.