Monday, June 10, 2019

Labour MP Rupa Huq accused of anti-Semitism by former employee who claims she taunted him over Star of David bag

  • Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, facing anti-semitism probe 
  • The 47-year-old has been accused of anti-semitism by two former employees 
  • One claims that she continually questioned him about a Star of David badge 
Rupa Huq, 47, has been the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton since 2015
Rupa Huq, 47, has been the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton since 2015
A Labour MP has been formally accused of anti-semitism by two-ex employees, with one claiming that she repeatedly asked him why he had the Star of David on his bag. 
Rupa Huq, 47, has been the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton since 2015 and faces accusations from two former staffers who worked at her Westminster office until this year.   
One complainant alleged that Ms Huq questioned why he had a badge showing the Star of David on his satchel. 
He claimed that she asked: 'Why do you have the flag of Israel on your bag?'
The former staffer added that he corrected the mistake, explaining it wasn't the flag of Israel, but Ms Huq continued to ask the question throughout the day. 
The complainant says that the conversation took place on his second day working for the MP. 
He added that he was not Jewish but was of Jewish heritage and worked for the MP for a further 11 months. 
A dossier of more than 2,500 words was written by the former employee and sent to Labour. 
In it, he alleges that Ms Huq also branded a policy briefing he had written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as too pro-Israel.
Later, he was banned from writing policy documents altogether, with the complainant believing the incidents were linked. 
However, a source close to Ms Huq  told the Times that a constituent had been worried by an email sent by the employee on Ms Huq's behalf responded to violence and killings in Gaza.
Then in June, the dossier says that Ms Huq attended an event run by a Palestinian community group, without telling her staff. 
According to the complainant, she then instructed staff to look for photos of her attending an event and they discovered an image posted by the group which read:   
'Ahmad Nassar Jarrar, hero in our land.' 
The man mentioned in the post was previously accused of planning the murder of the rabbi but, when confronted, Ms Huq dismissed staff concerns.  
The  source close to Ms Huq said that she was actually 'sickened' by the photo and never attended one of the group's events again.
He claimed that he saw an email, which was from Ms Huq's parliamentary account, discussing a student who had applied for a role with her team.
According to the complainant, Ms Huq wrote: 'Will have to say no but don't want him to claim antisemitism.'
He added that the MP still has a good relationship with the student. 
Another shocking claim alleges that in September Ms Huq 'devised a whole separate line of questioning based on Judaism and loyalty to Israel for one of the candidates'. 
The candidate was Jewish and Ms Huq justified the questioning as being because the candidate had a master's degree in Middle Eastern issues, according to the dossier.
Meanwhile, the second complainant said Ms Huq made one former employee 'listen to her conspiracy theories surrounding the Jewish community'. 
The MP denies the claim with a source close to Ms Huq saying she 'has no recollection of this whatsoever and rejects the allegation that it happened'. 
Futhermore, the second complainant claims that when the first was off work sick,  Ms Huq took a 'no tolerance for antisemitism' poster and threw it on the floor, saying it wasn't needed anymore. 
A spokeswoman for Ms Huq said: 'We don't comment on staffing matters. Any suggestion that Rupa is antisemitic or has acted inappropriately is entirely false and malicious.'
Labour told the times: 'We take all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures.'
It is latest anti-semitism allegation to rock the party, after Lisa Forbes won the Peterbrough by-election despite 'liking' social media posts about 'Zionist Slave Masters'.

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