Magistrate and Labour Party councillor issued formal warning by Judicial Conduct Investigations Office over posts containing “antisemitic content”
A magistrate and Labour Party councillor has been issued a formal warning by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) over Facebook posts containing “antisemitic content”.
The warning relates to posts said to have been made between 2015 and 2019 that are believed to be behind Ansar Hussain’s suspension from the Party in May of last year.
Mr Hussain, who was elected in Milton Keynes in 2021 and previously served as Wolverton’s mayor, was alleged to have shared conspiracy theories about the Jewish state on social media, including some that appeared to compare Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.
Contacted by the JC, Cllr Hussain reportedly said at the time that he “disagreed with antisemitism” and, regarding the posts, that “I don’t remember these posts.”
The JCIO said of its warning to Mr Hussain: “Following a judicial disciplinary investigation, a conduct panel of the South East Region Conduct Advisory Committee found that Mr Hussain had, on four occasions between 2015 and 2019, shared and responded to social media posts which contained antisemitic content.
“The panel decided that Mr Hussain’s actions, two of which took place before he became a magistrate, were prejudiced, and fell below the high standards of conduct expected of a judicial office-holder.
“In deciding to issue Mr Hussain with a formal warning, Mr Justice Keehan and the Lord Chancellor took into consideration that he reported the matter to his bench chair straightaway, accepted responsibility for his conduct and that it was highly improper, apologised, closed his public social media accounts, and voluntarily undertook diversity and inclusivity training.”
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.
