Labour MEP not disciplined after comparing Israel with Nazis
The Labour politician won't have any action taken against him despite calls from MPs and community leaders
Jack Mendel is the former Online Editor at the Jewish News.
Jewish leaders are “deeply disappointed” by tweets a Labour MEP sent which compared Israel to the Nazis.
Labour has refused to dicipline an elected representative who compared Israel to the Nazis on Twitter triggering criticisim from the Jewish community.
Afzal Khan, MEP for the North West, tweeted in August 2014: “”The Israeli Government are [sic] acting like Nazi’s [sic] in Gaza”.
Following the remark on social media , the Labour Party outlined they wouldn’t be disciplining him, but had been ““reminded of his responsibilities.”
Board of Deputies of British Jews Vice President Marie van der Zyl and Manchester Jewish Representative Council President Sharon Bannister issued a joint statement condemning the remarks.
They said: “We are deeply disappointed by these tweets, which, whilst not new, are still deeply offensive. We would ask Afzal Khan to withdraw the comment and to publicly apologise for it. There is no place for anti-Semitism in our politics.”
Following his remarks, Andrew Percy MP and Eric Pickles MP called for his suspensions.
“It is staggering how often Labour politicians casually reference the Nazis when discussing the world’s only Jewish state” said Percy, to the Telegraph.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said on their website, that the lack of discipline for Khan showed “That the Labour Party is not taking its anti-Semitism problem seriously. We have seen repeated signs that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party operates a zero tolerance policy against racism,
This comes after Jeremy Corbyn’s office told Jewish News that specific allegations against a “small number” of individuals will be passed by Baroness Royall to the Labour Party’s general secretary, in the wake of her report into allegations of anti-Semitism at the Oxford Union Labour Club [OULC].
The news came more than 24-hours after the peer presented the findings of her three-month investigation to the National Executive Committee.
However, controversy erupted over the party’s failure to publish the report in full, amid claims this gave the impression it was in “denial” and had squandered a golden opportunity.
The human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti will also lead a review into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and has insisted she will investigate without “fear or favour”, despite revealing she joined the party on the day she was appointed to the role.
In recent months, at least 20 members have been suspended from the Labour Party amid allegations of anti-Semitism. This includes former Labour MP Naz Shah and former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.
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