LABOUR have received an official complaint from campaigners accusing one of their MPs of blaming Israel for far-right riots in Britain.
Campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) have reported Clive Lewis to the party over a tweet he posted saying that Israel’s assault on Palestine and riots in England were “not unconnected”.
Sharing a link to an article in The Guardian reporting that people had been killed by an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school, Lewis wrote: “The link between the daily inhumanity being metted out to Palestinians and rising Islamophobia in the UK, are not unconnected.
“The inhumanity being shown to one is giving ‘permission’ for the other. These actions diminish us all.”
The link between the daily inhumanity being metted out to Palestinians and rising Islamophobia in the UK, are not unconnected. The inhumanity being shown to one is giving ‘permission’ for the other. These actions diminish us all. pic.twitter.com/ZETc1guaVS
— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) August 10, 2024
Alex Hearn, co-director of LAAS, told Sky News he believed that Lewis’s comments were “highly irresponsible” and he should be expelled from Labour.
He said: “It is very concerning that people across the political spectrum, from ‘anti-racists’ to the far-right, have fantasised that 'Zionists' and Israel are to blame for unrest across Britain.
“A recent report by the Community Security Trust showed antisemitism in the last six months has gone up 105%, and that the pretext for these 1978 incidents are often Palestine. This includes synagogues targeted 76 times and 121 assaults.
“For a Labour MP to blame a conflict thousands of miles away for the recent racism in far-right riots in Britain is highly irresponsible.
“When attacks against British Jews exploded following the Hamas October 7 massacre, no such link was made by Mr Lewis.”
Hearn demanded Labour suspend Lewis immediately, adding: “We believe that his comments in the context of sectarian violence and record attacks against British Jews warrant expulsion.”
Lewis and the Labour Party have been approached for comment.
According to the authorities in Palestine, around 6000 people were sheltering in the Tabeen school in Gaza city, which was bombed on Saturday morning, killing 80 people.
Israel has claimed without evidence that the school was being used as a “Hamas control centre” – something the militant group denies.
