Shah Hussain, Salim Mulla and Ilyas Aziz have all been suspended for comments on social media
Councillors Shah Hussain from Burnley, Salim Mulla from Blackburn and Ilya Aziz from Nottingham have all been suspended today pending investigations following allegations of anti-Semitism.
Posts on Mr Hussain's Twitter were sent to Israeli footballer Yossi Benayoun in 2014 that said: "You are an [sic] complete and utter plonker, you and your country doing the same thing that Hitler did to your race in WW2."
Twitter posts from the account also expressed regret that Benayoun had not been kicked "hard enough in the head" in a previous match.
A Labour spokesperson said this afternoon: “Councillor Shah Hussain has been suspended from the Labour Party pending the outcome of an investigation."
Mr Hussain said he would "most definitely" fight the suspension and added: "If Jewish people find it offensive then I think they need to think about what the rest of the world thinks."
He said: "I wanted him to reflect on what Hitler did to the Jewish people, and then I wanted him to reflect on that and to see what's happening in Palestine, can it be seen as the same?"
The councillor said he would make that case when he speaks to the Labour Party authorities.
The revelation came just hours after it emerged that Mr Mulla reportedly described "Zionist Jews" as a "disgrace to humanity" and supported calls for Israel to be relocated to the United States.
Earlier today, it emerged a previous post from Mr Aziz's Facebook account said: "Jews and Muslims lived together in the Middle East, in peace pre 1948. Perhaps it would have been wiser to create Israel in America it's big enough. They could relocate even now."
As scandal engulfs the party, Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour is "united" in opposing anti-Semitism in the wake of a turbulent week which has also seen the suspension of MP Naz Shah and former London mayor Ken Livingstone.
The Guido Fawkes website claimed Mr Mulla shared a message suggesting Israel should be relocated to the United States - the same post as Ms Shah which led to her apologising in the Commons and having the whip withdrawn.
Another post, from 2014, apparently showed footage of a Palestinian boy being arrested with a comment from Mr Mulla's account saying: "Apartheid at its best. Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity."
While Mr Aziz claimed he had not written a post being attributed to him from 2014, although it remained on his Facebook page.
Posting a link to an article about Nazi Germany in 2014, a comment from his account said: "A reminder of the treatment and suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany. ARE THERE ANY SIMILARITIES TO HOW ISRAEL IS TREATING PALESTINIANS."
Asked if he suggested Israel could be relocated and whether he feared he could be suspended as a result - as it was the same suggestion that led to the action against Ms Shah - he said: "I didn't write that."
On the comparison with the Nazis, Mr Aziz said: "That one possibly (was) because you make a comparison that it's wrong, that nobody should be doing that."
Asked whether he thought that people who criticised Israeli policy faced being accused of anti-Semitism, Mr Aziz said: "I think you need to be careful.
"The thing you have got to try and appreciate is that if a particular government - whether it's the Israeli government, whether it's the British government - if the government is actually doing something wrong they should be criticised.
Asked if he suggested Israel could be relocated and whether he feared he could be suspended as a result - as it was the same suggestion that led to the action against Ms Shah - he said: "I didn't write that."
On the comparison with the Nazis, Mr Aziz said: "That one possibly (was) because you make a comparison that it's wrong, that nobody should be doing that."
Asked whether he thought that people who criticised Israeli policy faced being accused of anti-Semitism, Mr Aziz said: "I think you need to be careful.
"The thing you have got to try and appreciate is that if a particular government - whether it's the Israeli government, whether it's the British government - if the government is actually doing something wrong they should be criticised.
In another post, from August of that year, he appeared to echo the notorious anti-Semitic blood libels, implying that Israelis were “drinking the blood” of Arabs in Gaza:
Screenshot
The above posts are just a few of the anti-Semitic statuses posted by Aziz during the summer of 2014 – when anti-Semitism peaked as anti-Israel groups rallied in support of Hamas during its war with Israel that year.
Unsurprisingly given those views, Arutz Sheva found Aziz also is a strong supporter of the extremist Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has a long history of hosting anti-Semites and homophobes at its events, as well as the anti-Israel BDS boycott movement.
Screenshot
Arutz Sheva also found evidence that Aziz had attended an event by the Hamas fundraising charity Interpal, which is also supported by Jeremy Corbyn.
In October of 2014 – and again in November – he advertised an Interpal event hosting Islamist Taliban-supporter Yvonne Ridley.
Aziz was suspended, but only after his vile propaganda came to light. Labour leaders have known about Islamic Jew-hatred (and its ancillary Leftist Jew-hatred) within their ranks for years, and have done nothing. And as soon as this media firestorm dies down, they will do nothing about it again.
A message posted on Shah Hussein's Twitter profile
Blackburn with Darwen councillor Salim Mulla was suspended hours after Mr Aziz
"But not the population itself, it's got nothing to do with them, it's got nothing to do with the religion."
He added that "as politicians you need to be careful" and said he supported the suspensions imposed on Ms Shah and Mr Livingstone "but at the same time I'm also a great believer that justice should be done and I think they should do a swift inquiry into exactly what the feelings are and if the party feels that they have crossed a boundary then yes, they should be suspended or expelled".
Both Mr Aziz and Mr Mulla were suspended shortly after their posts were highlighted online, in a sign that Labour is taking a more decisive approach on the issue.
Mr Corbyn was previously accused of responding too slowly to similar incidents, most notably his ally Mr Livingstone's assertion, while defending Ms Shah, that Hitler was supporting Zionism before he "went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".
MP Naz Shah was also suspended
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from the party following his comments about Hitler
The Labour leader has announced an independent review and pledged to tighten party codes of conduct on anti-Semitism and other forms of racism in a bid to put a lid on the furore.
But he faced calls from Israeli politicians and diplomats to give a more "unequivocal" condemnation and warnings - including from the party's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan - that the party would be punished in the May 5 elections.
Former minister Iain Wright told BBC Radio 4's Today there would be no move against Mr Corbyn in the "short term" following speculation frontbenchers could resign within weeks in protest.
Asked if he would "live or die" by the results on Thursday, he said: "I think we will do well in London, in my constituency in Hartlepool we have got elections both in terms of the local council and police and crime commissioners - I hope we do well, the expectations are that we will.
"So I don't think that question arises in the immediate short term."
UKIP’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall condemned the party as “rotting fish from head down” and declared he was “not shocked in the slightest” by the ongoing scandal.
No comments:
Post a Comment