Labour councillor alleged to have posted horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today”
A Labour Party councillor is alleged to have posted a horrific article arguing “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.”
Belgica Guaña is alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, on Facebook in 2016, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London, where she is running for re-election this week.
The article says that “The so-called ‘Holocaust’ is propaganda in an ongoing war between the Jews and those with the courage to stand up to them – a war that began with the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in the 1930s and continues to this very day. The Jews do not have the means or the numbers to defeat Europeans with the force of arms so they have to rely mainly on infiltration, subversion, and economic and psychological warfare, with the Holocaust hoax being the best example of the latter.
“The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews (which is all that was actually happening), just as we would be today. Hitler and the National Socialists freed Germany from the death grip of the Jews and gave it back to the German people.”
The essay also argues that Jews use pornography to control western societies by way of the “Holocaust hoax”, and pushes the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, as well as claiming that teenage diarist Anne Frank, murdered by the Nazis at Bergen-Belsen, was a “bisexual degenerate” whose popular diary is an “obvious fraud…laced with pornographic and sexually subversive messages”.
In May 2016, Cllr Guaña reportedly shared a post that said that “The Nazi holocaust [sic] was a crime against humanity, and the Israeli Genocide against Palestinians can not be ignored or denied,” and in December 2017, Cllr Guaña is said to have shared a video of the United Nations General Assembly, writing: “If you can have a minute of silence for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. So how much time should I ask for the more than 50 years of invasion and oppression of the Palestinian people?” Both posts are further breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
The allegation that Cllr Guaña posted the article was made in the JC, based on research by Labour Against Antisemitism.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The article allegedly shared by this councillor is a not only an abhorrent collection of antisemitic tropes, from Holocaust denial and paedophilia to comparisons of Israel with the Nazis and support for the far-right ‘Great Replacement Theory’, but it may also imply support for Jewish genocide. In view of just how horrific this post is, we are examining legal options.
“The Labour Party must urgently investigate both the veracity of the allegation and how Belgica Guaña was allowed to become and remain a councillor in spite of the post, and why she was endorsed by the Party in her bid for reelection.”
Cllr Guaña is not the only Labour candidate in the coming elections to be embroiled in controversy.
Cllr Lee Garvey, an independent candidate representing Pallister and Berwick Hills in Middlesbrough, had applied to become a member of the Labour Party, but was rejected after concerns were raised about material that he had allegedly shared online. Cllr Garvey allegedly compared Israel’s policies to the Holocaust and referenced antisemitic conspiracy theories surrounding the Rothschild family.
In a 2015 Facebook post referencing then-Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, Cllr Garvey reportedly wrote: “Just saw an interview with [Channel 4 News presenter John] snow and CaMORON where he says, we need to stop the Demonisation of Jews…Lets look at how I see it…Israel is doing to the Palestinians what they themselves suffered at the hands of the Nazi’s [sic].”
On another occasion, Cllr Garvey allegedly complained about the number of Jewish characters on television, saying: “Watch any US sitcom or show, you will find the vast majority have at least one Jewish character if not a Jewish family. Why is this when they make up JUST 2.2% of the population?? And if like me you fear the TV is just a Propaganda, it certainly makes you think [sic].”
In another alleged 2015 Facebook post, Cllr Garvey is claimed to have referenced classic antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, writing: “I also take the sleeping enhancer from those drug companies I despise, use money to purchase items given to us by the Rothschild family who I regard as less than poo and I also maek most of my living in churches and we all know how I feel about them…”
Another Labour candidate, Anne Pissaridou, representing North Portslade in Brighton, has been suspended by the Party for a second time after new revelations about her social media output. She is accused of posting messages on social media downplaying antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party and reportedly appeared to condone an online attack on a Jewish party member.
A third figure caught up in controversy is former Labour MP Martin Linton. Mr Linton served as the MP for Battersea between 1997 and 2010, but is now running as a council candidate in Wandsworth’s Lavender ward. He has allegedly made a number of inflammatory statements in the past.
In 2010, while Mr Linton was Chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, he reportedly claimed that the “Israel lobby” played a malign role in marginal constituencies. During a meeting held at the House of Commons by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of al-Aqsa, Mr Linton is reported to have said that “There are long tentacles of Israel in this country who are funding election campaigns and putting money into the British political system for their own ends…When you make decisions about how you vote and how you advise constituents to vote, you must make them aware of the attempt by Israelis and by pro-Israelis to influence the election.”
In an appearance on the Islam Channel, Mr Linton said that the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas should not be called “terrorists”. That is, Mr Linton explained “the wrong word to use when you are talking about someone who is fighting a military occupation”. Mr Linton’s preferred term is “Gazan militants”, because, while the actions of individuals may be described as terroristic, the same apparently cannot be said for groups and governments.
In 2010, Mr Linton appeared on the Iranian-backed news outlet PressTV to, it has been claimed, defend Hamas terrorists in Israeli prisons. On another occasion, he appeared on PressTV to defend Raed Salah, a prolific antisemite who claims that Israel planned 9/11.
Murad Qureshi, the candidate for the ward of Little Venice in west London, is also embroiled in controversy. Mr Qureshi is alleged to have made comments about the “powerful pro-Israel lobby” in the United States, and retweeted a Twitter post which read “You can get away with offending anyone so lomng as they’re not Jewish”. In a 2013 blog post, Mr Qureshi also reportedly questioned the “legal basis” for the trial of the leading Nazi Adolf Eichmann. Mr Qureshi allegedly wrote that “I am not sure the Eichmann trial can be held up as a model of due processes [sic].” From 2016 to 2021, Mr Qureshi was Chair of Stop the War Coalition, and has been photographed alongside Hamas politicians including leader Ismail Haniyeh.
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.
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.