Labour Withdraws Support for Candidate Who Claimed Israel Allowed Attacks

Labour candidate for Rochdale, Azhar Ali launches his by-election campaign in Rochdale, England on Feb. 07, 2024 Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The Labour Party has withdrawn support for Rochdale byelection candidate Azhar Ali, who had claimed that Israel had allowed Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks to happen as a pretext to invade Gaza.

Initially, Labour stood by Mr. Ali, who had apologised for making the remarks recorded during a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party.

Shadow minister without portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds had told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme on Monday that he was “shocked and appalled” by Mr. Ali’s remarks, but that he believed the candidate when he said that he had fallen for an “online conspiracy theory.”

However, a Labour Party spokesperson announced on Monday evening: “Following new information about further comments made by Azhar Ali coming to light today, the Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali as our candidate in the Rochdale by-election.

“Keir Starmer has changed Labour so that it is unrecognisable from the party of 2019. We understand that these are highly unusual circumstances but it is vital that any candidate put forward by Labour fully represents its aims and values.”

Nominations for the Feb. 29 by-election are now closed, so while Labour can withdraw support from Mr. Ali, he cannot be removed from the ballot.

Mr. Ali Claimed Israel Knew of Attacks in Advance

Mr. Ali, a Lancashire county councillor and former government adviser who was given an OBE in 2020 for public service, told a gathering in recordings published by The Mail on Sunday. “The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel ten days earlier … Americans warned them a day before (that) there’s something happening.

“They deliberately took the security off, they allowed … that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”

Mr. Ali later apologised “unreservedly” to the Jewish community for his comments, which he said were “deeply offensive, ignorant, and false.”

According to an article published by The Daily Mail on Monday night, Mr. Ali had also said during the Lancashire event that “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” were “giving crap” to Labour MP Andy McDonald, who Labour suspended after Mr. McDonald used the phrase “between the river and the sea” in a speech during a rally.

The newspaper also reported the former Labour candidate as allegedly claiming that Israel planned to “get rid of [Palestinians] from Gaza” and “grab” some of the land.

Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in 1,400 people being killed and more than 240 kidnapped. The military response from Israel is ongoing.

Labour Criticised for Delaying Withdrawal of Support

Responding to Labour’s announcement, a spokesperson for the Jewish charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) criticised the party for delaying the withdrawal of support for Mr. Ali until such a late stage.

The CAA spokesperson said: “Sir Keir Starmer has blotted an otherwise fairly admirable copybook and given the public reason to doubt the earnestness of his promise to tear antisemitism out ‘by its roots’ in Labour.

“People will have to judge for themselves whether the additional reported comments by Azhar Ali are really any worse than the comments that had already been reported.

“Rather than appearing as a principled decision, Labour’s withdrawal of support for its candidate at this late stage just looks as expedient as the failed attempt to defend him.

“It is the worst of all worlds for Labour.”

Labour had come under pressure to remove support for the candidate, including from Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Gove who had said, “Sir Keir Starmer cannot continue to support this candidacy.”

Weighing in, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of having “no principles at all.”

Speaking to GB News viewers on Monday during an event in County Durham, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Keir Starmer has been running around for the last year trying to tell everybody ‘OK, Labour Party’s changed.’ Well, look what just happened in Rochdale, a candidate saying the most vile conspiracy theories, antisemitic, and what happened?

“He’s stood by and sent cabinet ministers to support him, until literally five minutes before I walked on tonight, under enormous media pressure, has decided to change his mind on principle. No principles at all.

“So no, the Labour Party hasn’t changed. It’s a con.”

Sir Keir had sought to move his party on from the Jeremy Corbyn era, which was overshadowed by allegations of antisemitism and the verdict of an Equality and Human Rights Commission report which found that under Mr. Corbyn’s watch, the party was responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination.

Last month, Labour removed the whip from Kate Osamor after she posted a message to X, formerly Twitter, on Holocaust Memorial Day calling the Israel-Hamas conflict a “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. Ms. Osamor later apologised.

The Rochdale by-election was triggered by the death of sitting MP Sir Tony Lloyd, who held the seat for the Labour Party at the 2019 election with a 9,668 majority over the Conservatives.

Among the other candidates running in the constituency are its former MP Simon Danczuk, who held the seat for Labour between 2010 and 2017 and is now standing as a Reform UK party candidate; George Galloway, formerly of Labour and the Respect Party, now a member of the Workers Party of Britain; and the Conservatives’ Paul Ellison.

PA Media contributed to this report.