Chair of Labour in Newham to be investigated over alleged antisemitism just days after his deputy is suspended over alleged antisemitic social media activity
The chair of Labour in Newham in London is reportedly to be investigated over alleged antisemitism, just days after his deputy was suspended over alleged antisemitic social media activity.
Cllr Mushtaq Mughal, who chairs the Labour Group, is reportedly being investigated over social media posts. He reportedly posted on social media a video from the fringe and controversial Neturei Karta group with the caption: “Israel is govern by Zyonist not by Jews revealed by Jewish Rabbi [sic]”.
In another post he wrote: “Real Islam & real Judaism together can bring peace in the world. Israel is not Jewish state & it’s acts against God, Said jewel in USA [sic]”. The posts go back to 2016 and 2014.
The launch of the investigation comes shortly after the Deputy Chair of Labour in Newham was suspended over social media posts, including the same antisemitic post as that shared by Naz Shah MP several years ago. Cllr Nazir Ahmed shared a post in December 2017 with an image situating Israel in the middle of the United States and calling for the relocation of Israel to America. This was the same post for which Ms Shah apologised and was suspended from the Labour Party in 2016. Cllr Ahmed described the image as an “easy solution for Israel Palestine conflict!”
In another Facebook post, from 2014, Cllr Ahmed shared a video that asked whether “Israel have USA in the pocket [sic]”.
A Labour spokesperson said at the time that the “Party takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
Inexplicably, Cllr Mughal has apparently not been suspended, raising questions about the enduring consistency of Labour’s disciplinary processes.
Meanwhile, Newham’s only Jewish councillor has reportedly condemned the handling of antisemitism allegations by the borough’s Labour mayor.
Newham London Borough Council has not properly adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism, after a Labour councillor deliberately amended the accompanying examples, which are integral to the Definition.
Campaign Against Antisemitism recently lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
