The renters’ group ACORN, which has held numerous protests at individual letting agents’ offices, has apologised after one of its local branches was caught up in an anti-semitism row.

A prospective member – who used a Hebrew name for their social media account – asked to join the organisation on Instagram but was told by the Manchester branch of the group that it had “no time for Zionists sorry” and “We are a pro Palestine organisation”.

ACORN now says it has apologised unreservedly and after an investigation it has expelled the person responsible for the anti-semitic post.

In a statement sent to Campaign Against Antisemitism, and reproduced on the CAA website, Acorn says: “On Sunday morning, two direct messages were sent from ACORN Manchester’s Instagram account by a then unidentified individual. Following an investigation, the individual responsible has now been identified and was expelled from the organisation by ACORN UK’s national board on Tuesday evening.”

The statement continues: “ACORN UK unequivocally condemns the antisemitic messages that were sent. We would also like to reiterate our apology to all our Jewish members and the wider Jewish community for the upset and offense caused. We will be keeping our social media access processes under continual review, having already taken steps to improve these in order to avoid an incident like this from happening again. We would like to thank everyone for their patience whilst the investigation was promptly carried out. The outcome has now been communicated to those affected.”

The CAA has praised ACORN”s response, saying the organisation turned the incident of anti-Jewish discrimination into a case study in best practice.