A former UKIP parliamentary candidate says he "sticks by" a comment calling for the kidnapping of US President Barack Obama in the same manner as a notorious Nazi war criminal.

Jeremy Zeid, who has told the Times Series he has stood down as the party's candidate for Hendon, made the demand in a post on his Facebook page last week, the HOPE not Hate website reported.

The post was made in response to a story Mr Zeid shared about the US declassifying documents about Israel’s nuclear capability.

He drew a parallel with the US imprisonment of Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed for life in the US for passing secrets to Israel.

Mr Zeid, who is also chairman of the UKIP Harrow branch, wrote: “Once Obama is out of office, the Israelis should move to extradite the bastard or 'do an Eichmann' on him, and lock him up for leaking state secrets. After all what's sauce for the Pollard goose is sauce for the Obama gander, don't you think?”

In response to a comment, Mr Zeid added: "Nah, just kidnap the bugger, like they did to Eichmann, who suddenly found that he'd woken up in Israel. The problem is that Israeli jails are far more humane and adherent to human rights than American ones."

Times Series:

Speaking to the Times Series, Mr Zeid said: "Once again it seems that from the safety of his or her keyboard, someone, presumably a 'friend', has seen fit to screenshot a posting from my friends only Facebook site, to stir up controversy and fuel concocted outrage by reporting it to the media.

“What was this dreadful, awful and shocking posting? For those who don't know, President Obama saw fit to declassify Israel's nuclear and security files, effectively aiding and abetting her enemies who have sworn to 'wipe Israel from the map'.

“I opined that I thought that once Obama left office, that Israel should extradite him or if that doesn't work, as they did with Adolph Eichmann, spirit him to Israel to face trial and if found guilty, throw him in prison.”

Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi SS officer who played a major role in the Holocaust. He fled to Argentina after the Second World War, but was kidnapped by Israeli security services and eventually put on trial in Israel, where he was executed in 1962.

Mr Zeid said he had stood down as UKIP's Hendon candidate a few days before making the post on Facebook. The Times Series has not yet had confirmation of this from the party.

Mr Zeid, who is still a UKIP member, said his decision had nothing to do with UKIP policies, adding: "I stood down because it reached a stage where no-one was interested in the real issues, policies on housing, energy, Europe, the NHS; it always came down to 'race'.

"Let's be crystal clear, that in three years as a UKIP member, unlike my dealings with all of the other parties, I haven't encountered any "racist" problems."

Mr Zeid added: “From my perspective, I am wholly fed up and disillusioned as to how low political discourse in Britain has sunk, where telling the truth or having a frank opinion has become a no-go area.

“Beware, Britain, for whom you vote. Think it through carefully, look through the slick presentations, the scaremongering. What are you not being told? Otherwise you may just get the government you deserve rather than the one you need.

“And that comment I made about Obama, I stick by it 100 per cent.”

Mr Zeid has caused controversy on social media in the past, having posted on Twitter last year that “the almost absence of white faces in Ilford is worrying".