Antisemitism in Political Parties

Naz Shah

2015-present: Labour Member of Parliament for Bradford West

2020-present: Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion

2018-2020: Shadow M inister for Women and Equalities

Incidents

On 29th July 2014, Ms Shah posted a link on Facebook to a newspaper poll asking whether Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, encouraging others to vote in favour of the proposition on the basis that far more votes had been cast against it, and commenting: “The Jews are rallying to the poll.”
On 5th August 2014, Ms Shah posted an image on Facebook which proposed that Israel should be “relocated” to the USA as a “solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict. She commented: “Problem solved and save u bank charges for £3 BILLION you transfer yearly!”
On an unknown date in August 2014, Ms Shah reportedly tweeted a link to an article claiming that Zionism, “like Al Qaeda,” used “religious symbolism…to groom other modernised men and women of Jewish descent to exert political influence at the highest levels of public office by using the guilt of the pogroms and offered a solution to the ‘Jewish Question’ in Europe.”
On 5th September 2014, she tweeted an image of Martin Luther King, quoting his words written from Birmingham city jail: “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal”, adding the hashtag “#ApartheidIsrael”.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Shah’s actions and statements amount to breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our methodology.

By alleging that “the Jews” were involved in an effort to skew the outcome of a poll against a motion regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza [1], and by sharing an article which both compared “Zionism” to a global terrorist group and imputed to it nefarious political aims [3], she was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

By sharing an image which proposed that Israel should be “relocated” to the USA as a “solution” to the Israel-Palestine conflict and to save on US contributions to Israel’s defence budget [2], she was endorsing the forced expulsion of the Jewish citizens of Israel to a foreign country, which constitutes a rhetorical expression of hatred towards Jews; as well as “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination…”

By sharing a quotation by Martin Luther King, highlighting the fact that the crimes of the Third Reich were technically “legal” (the combined effect of the 1933 Reichstag Fire Decree and Enabling Act was to remove most civil liberties and effectively created a legal dictatorship), and comparing Nazi Germany at the time to present–day Israel [4], she was “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

Outcome

On 26th April 2016, Ms Shah’s tweets were exposed. Ms Shah resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, and apologised in writing.

On 27th April 27th, Ms Shah was further criticised for having employed Mohammed Shabbir, the Labour councillor whose “Walk Together” blog post she had shared in [3], when evidence emerged that he had expressed other allegedly antisemitic views on his blog.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described Ms Shah’s posts as “offensive and unacceptable”, but stopped short of calling them antisemitic.

Ms Shah published an apology to the Jewish community in the Jewish News.

Later that day, Ms Shah apologised in the House of Commons, but was suspended by the Labour Party “by mutual agreement.”

On 3rd May 2016, it was reported that Ms Shah had recused herself from the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into antisemitism.

On 18th July 2016, it was reported that Ms Shah had been reinstated to the Labour Party, and that she had admitted that her output had been antisemitic.

On 5th September 2016, it was reported that Ms Shah had been readmitted to the Labour Party even though a police investigation into her conduct was still being carried out.

On 30th January 2017, it was reported that Ms Shah had met with representatives of a Jewish community charity, expressing her wish to strengthen her relationship with the Jewish community.

On 26th March 2018, it was reported that, when she was reinstated, Labour’s National Executive Committee had given her a formal warning, told her to apologise for bringing the Party into disrepute and warned that if there was another incident she would be expelled.

On 11th July 2018, it was reported that Ms Shah had been promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

On 9th April 2020, it was reported that Ms Shah had been promoted to the position of Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion.

Owing to the conditions of secrecy imposed by Baroness Chakrabarti’s report on antisemitism in the Labour Party, the process by which the decision to lift Ms Shah’s suspension was made remains unknown.

In November 2019, Campaign Against Antisemitism put this matter to Ms Shah, but did not receive a response.

Rating

Campaign Against Antisemitism has rated the Party’s handling of this matter as “bad”. Our rating system is explained in our methodology. This case was last updated on 13th May 2020.

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