A third British city councilman was suspended by the Labour Party on Monday for tweeting anti-Semitic comments.
Shah Hussain, a member of the Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, was suspended hours after the two other lawmakers who had made anti-Israel statements on social media.
An investigation will be launched into tweets Hussain sent to the Israeli soccer player Yossi Benayoun in 2014, the Labour Party announced Monday evening.
One of the tweets, from July of that year during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, read “you and your country doing the same thing that hitler did to ur race in ww2.” Another tweet, which uses the hashtag #FreePalestine, tells Benayoun: “Yossi, ur an idiot” and expresses sadness that a competing player “didn’t kick you hard enough in the head.”
Also Monday, Ilyas Aziz, a lawmaker in Nottingham in north-central England, was suspended hours after the Guido Fawkes British political watchdog website posted screenshots of his Facebook posts, including one from July 2014 calling for the relocation of Israeli Jews.
Other of Aziz’s posts shown on Guido Fawkes included one comparing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews and another perpetuating the blood libel myth that reads “Stop drinking Gaza’s blood.” Another post shows an Israeli flag with the words “God didn’t give you the land – the UK did … Illegally” superimposed on it.
The former mayor of Blackburn, also in Lancashire, Salim Mulla, was suspended less than an hour after his anti-Israel posts were outed, also by Guido Fawkes.
Mulla, whose Twitter profile said he was born in India, charged in an August 2015 Facebook post that Israel is behind ISIS. A month earlier he posted a conspiracy theory video blaming Israel for the Sandy Hook elementary school murders in Connecticut, adding his own comment that “He is talking facts.” A June 2015 post reads ”Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity.”
The suspensions come days after Labour suspended a British Parliament member, Naz Shah, for a 2014 Facebook post calling for relocating the entire State of Israel to the United States.
On Thursday, the party suspended former London Mayor Ken Livingstone for saying that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist for advocating in 1932 a policy of moving Europe’s Jews to Israel.
The following day, Labour said it would launch an investigation into anti-Semitism in the party. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also said in a statement that he would propose a new party code of conduct that would “make explicitly clear for the first time that Labour will not tolerate any form of racism, including anti-Semitism, in the party.”
Corbyn, a harsh critic of Israel who has called Hezbollah and Hamas activists “friends,” has been criticized for not doing enough to curb the rising anti-Semitic rhetoric in his party.
3rd British city councilman suspended in one day for anti-Semitic posts
Jewish Journal
A third British city councilman was suspended by the Labour Party on Monday for tweeting anti-Semitic comments.
Shah Hussain, a member of the Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, was suspended hours after the two other lawmakers who had made anti-Israel statements on social media.
An investigation will be launched into tweets Hussain sent to the Israeli soccer player Yossi Benayoun in 2014, the Labour Party announced Monday evening.
One of the tweets, from July of that year during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, read “you and your country doing the same thing that hitler did to ur race in ww2.” Another tweet, which uses the hashtag #FreePalestine, tells Benayoun: “Yossi, ur an idiot” and expresses sadness that a competing player “didn’t kick you hard enough in the head.”
Also Monday, Ilyas Aziz, a lawmaker in Nottingham in north-central England, was suspended hours after the Guido Fawkes British political watchdog website posted screenshots of his Facebook posts, including one from July 2014 calling for the relocation of Israeli Jews.
Other of Aziz’s posts shown on Guido Fawkes included one comparing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews and another perpetuating the blood libel myth that reads “Stop drinking Gaza’s blood.” Another post shows an Israeli flag with the words “God didn’t give you the land – the UK did … Illegally” superimposed on it.
The former mayor of Blackburn, also in Lancashire, Salim Mulla, was suspended less than an hour after his anti-Israel posts were outed, also by Guido Fawkes.
Mulla, whose Twitter profile said he was born in India, charged in an August 2015 Facebook post that Israel is behind ISIS. A month earlier he posted a conspiracy theory video blaming Israel for the Sandy Hook elementary school murders in Connecticut, adding his own comment that “He is talking facts.” A June 2015 post reads ”Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity.”
The suspensions come days after Labour suspended a British Parliament member, Naz Shah, for a 2014 Facebook post calling for relocating the entire State of Israel to the United States.
On Thursday, the party suspended former London Mayor Ken Livingstone for saying that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist for advocating in 1932 a policy of moving Europe’s Jews to Israel.
The following day, Labour said it would launch an investigation into anti-Semitism in the party. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also said in a statement that he would propose a new party code of conduct that would “make explicitly clear for the first time that Labour will not tolerate any form of racism, including anti-Semitism, in the party.”
Corbyn, a harsh critic of Israel who has called Hezbollah and Hamas activists “friends,” has been criticized for not doing enough to curb the rising anti-Semitic rhetoric in his party.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
Shabbat Prayer for Our College Students and Ourselves
1,400 Yizkors
Being Good is Easier to Resist than Sweezy vs New Hampshire
A Bisl Torah – Souls Connected
All the Fish in the Sea – A poem for Parsha Acharei Mot
State Legislator Demands Federal Probe into UCLA’s Failure to Protect Pupils
Culture
Welcome Back, Carbs!
A Perfect Pair of Confits
‘The Enemy Beside Me’: Can the Truth of Lithuania Holocaust History Be Told in Lithuania to Lithuanians and By Lithuanians?
A History of a Pivotal Era in Palestine Wins a Top Jewish Book Prize
Chancellor Block Addresses Pro-Palestinian Encampment Removal: “It Needed to Come to an End”
Block said the encampment “became a focal point for serious violence.”
Police Clear Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UCLA
More than 200 protesters were arrested during the late night raid.
The Assault: A Coordinated Attack on America’s Jews and Israel
American Jews are awakening to a new political reality concerning our changing status and position in the United States.
We Need Tactical Training to Combat Campus Antisemitism
We need on-the-ground tactical training for Jewish student activists and leaders if the Jewish community is going to push back against this madness and protect college students.
Chico Menashe: Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, Cooking with Chutzpah and The Open Kitchen Project
Taste Buds with Deb – Episode 54
Hollywood
Spielberg Says Antisemitism Is “No Longer Lurking, But Standing Proud” Like 1930s Germany
Young Actress Juju Brener on Her “Hocus Pocus 2” Role
Behind the Scenes of “Jeopardy!” with Mayim Bialik
Podcasts
Chico Menashe: Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, Cooking with Chutzpah and The Open Kitchen Project
Beth Lee: OMG Yummy, Exciting Flavors and Preserved Lemons
More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.