A Labour MP has had the whip removed after she posted a message on social media on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day which called the Israel-Hamas conflict a “genocide.”
On Friday, Kate Osamor posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, “Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza.”
‘I Apologise for any Offence Caused’
She then posted a message on X, which 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.”The Labour Party said its chief whip has suspended her from the parliamentary party while the matter is investigated.
Ms. Osamor was firstly elected as MP for Edmonton in north London in 2015, and had a majority of more than 16,000 at the Dec. 2019 general election.
She is on the left wing of the Labour Party and served as shadow development secretary between 2016 and 2018, when the party was led by Jeremy Corbyn.
Ms. Osamor resigned from the shadow cabinet in Dec. 2018 after her son Ishmael, 29, admitted possessing cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis worth £2,500 at a music festival in Dorset.
Ishmael Osamor was given 200 hours’ community service at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The MP said at the time she was resigning, “to concentrate on supporting my family through the difficult time we have been experiencing.”
Birmingham MP Apologised Over Remarks
Tahir Ali, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green, accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of having “the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands” because of his pro-Israel stance following Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7.Mr. Ali later posted an apology on X in which he said: “Earlier at PMQs I asked the prime minister about the actions of Israel in Gaza. This is obviously a deeply emotive issue.”
“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,” he added.
A Labour spokesman said of Mr. Ali’s remarks: “That language is clearly inappropriate and not language we would support or endorse or believe should be used.”
The leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, has taken a markedly different approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict than his predecessor.
Mr. Corbyn, a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause, was accused in the run-up to the 2019 general election of turning a blind eye to widespread anti-Semitism in the party, which is believed to have cost Labour much of the Jewish vote that year.
Since taking over, Sir Keir has sought to rebuild bridges with the Jewish community and has an overseen the removal of many party members who were accused of anti-Semitism.
Mr. Corbyn himself had the whip removed and has since been told he will not be allowed back into the party before the next election and will not be Labour’s candidate in Islington North, although the party has yet to select a replacement.
Sir Keir has backed Israel’s right to self-defence since the Hamas attacks and has been criticised by many Muslim Labour MPs and others on the left for allegedly failing to speak up in defence of innocent Palestinian civilians who have died in Israeli air attacks or the ground offensive.
