Britain’s main Labour opposition vowed Wednesday to act decisively over allegations of anti-Semitism, after suspending a second prospective MP over “unacceptable comments” about Israel.
Out of power since 2010 but expected to win a general election due this year, the party has for years been fighting to shake off allegations of anti-semitism within its ranks.
Ex-Labour lawmaker Graham Jones, its candidate in a northwest English seat at the next election, was suspended Tuesday after audio emerged of him using the words “fucking Israel” during a meeting.
He also allegedly suggested British people who volunteer to fight with the Israeli Defence Forces should be “locked up”. The comments came in an audio recording of a regional Labour party meeting.
Jones’s suspension came a day after the party withdrew support for another of its candidates, Azhar Ali, standing in a February 29 by-election in Rochdale, northwest England.
In a recording obtained by the Daily Mail from the same event Jones attended, Ali suggested Israel deliberately allowed Hamas’s October 7 attack to justify invading Gaza.
The party initially stood by his candidacy after he apologised, but then decided it could no longer back him after other comments came to light.
In the same recording, he allegedly blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for last year’s suspension of another Labour MP over comments about Israel.
– ‘The party will act’ –
Labour’s defence spokesman John Healey defended the party’s handling of the incidents.
“The party will act, and Kier Starmer will act, swiftly and decisively to make sure that our candidates and our MPs meet the very highest standards,” he told Sky News.
“This is not a party or people who are saints,” he added, insisting what mattered was how the party responded to wrongdoing allegations.
Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said party leaders had to “redouble” efforts against anti-Semitism, but dismissed as “ludicrous” claims that it had failed to reform.
Labour was plagued by accusations of anti-Semitism within its ranks under the 2015-2020 leadership tenure of leftist Jeremy Corbyn.
A landmark October 2020 report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled that Labour under Corbyn had broken the law in its “inexcusable” handling of complaints.
The period saw Jewish members and lawmakers leave the party in droves as criticism of Israel and Zionism veered into toxic anti-Semitism.
However, the UK equalities watchdog last year removed Labour from two years of special supervision over the issue.
Keir Starmer, in charge of the party for nearly four years since, has made tackling the issue a key mission.
