Lib Dems dump candidate Waheed Rafiq who made antisemitic comments on social media
The Liberal Democrats have dropped a general election candidate after it emerged that he had made controversial remarks on social media, including about Jews.
Waheed Rafiq was to represent the Lib Dems in Birmingham Hodge Hill, but has been dumped by the Party after it was revealed that he had posted on Facebook in 2010: “shocking to see how the Jewish government call them self Jews when they are wiping out all the people of Gaza.”
In 2012, Mr Rafiq is said to have posted a cartoon of a hook-nosed Jew wearing a Star of David hat.
In 2014, he apparently called on his Facebook friends to boycott WhatsApp because it was “Zionist backed”, clarifying: “Please note Jeff Rothschild is the Vice President of Infrastructure software and thus also a share holder in Facebook.” He added: “There are other non Zionist apps such as the Telegram Messaging App. It’s available on both android and apple users created by two brothers in Berlin. It’s better encrypted, much safer and thus better than WhatsApp. Never forget WhatsApp is Zionist backed so all we do and say is monitored and can leave us vulnerable to be exploited later.”
Also in 2014, Mr Rafiq reportedly shared an image with a Star of David flag and the words “Genocide, Apartheid, Holocaust”.
Back in 2010, Mr Rafiq had stood as a general election candidate in the same constituency for UKIP.
According to Buzzfeed News, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “At 3pm Waheed Rafiq Hodge Hill PPC was suspended from the party. The public posts on his Facebook and Twitter account from 2010 to 2014 are clearly and unambiguously antisemitic and bring the party into disrepute and are also of material disagreement with the fundamental values and objectives of the Party.”
Mr Rafiq acknowledged that he was the author of the controversial social media posts, and wrote: “I can confirm that those comments are mind [sic] and I honestly don’t see them as antisemitic because the public need to know the full story.”
On 8th December, regardless of religion, race or politics, Jews and non-Jews alike will gather in Parliament Square to declare that they stand together against antisemitism in the face of Jew-hatred in politics and mounting anti-Jewish hate crime.
