Labour on Monday vowed to conduct a “proper and fair” investigation into a London MP suspended for suggesting Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
Kate Osamor issued an apology for “any offence caused” by the message she wrote on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, which marks the murder of six million Jews during the Second World War.
The Edmonton MP had the whip suspended over the weekend after she appeared to say the war in the Palestinian territory should be remembered as a genocide alongside the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said it was “generally accepted across the board as offensive” to use the Holocaust to criticise Israel.
He told Times Radio: “There will now be an investigation. These investigations have to be proper and fair. So I wouldn’t want to prejudge any of that but it’s right that there’s now an investigation.”
Ms Osamor, a former shadow development secretary, who served in Jeremy Corbyn’s top team, is the second London Labour MP to be suspended following allegations of antisemitism.
Hackney North MP Diane Abbott had the whip removed last year pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism to the Observer.
Ms Osamor apologised for her remarks and said: “Holocaust Memorial Day is a day to remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and the genocides that have occurred since. I apologise for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that period of remembrance.”
More than 26,000 people have died in Israel attack on Gaza since Hamas’s assault on October 7 when some 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more kidnapped.
It comes after Labour MP Tahir Ali accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of having "the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands" over his response to the conflict.
The comments in the House of Commons prompted the Labour leadership to quickly distance itself from his position and Mr Ali later posted an apology online.
"Earlier at PMQs I asked the Prime Minister about the actions of Israel in Gaza. This is obviously a deeply emotive issue," he said.
"While I do not resile from my strongly held views on the situation in the Middle East, I would like to apologise for the way in which I described the Prime Minister in my question."
A Labour spokesman said of his remarks: "That language is clearly inappropriate and not language we would support or endorse or believe should be used."
