Unite suspends official who accused veteran Jewish MP of “weaponising the Holocaust” to push her “Zionist aims”

Unite, one of Britain’s biggest unions, has suspended an official who accused a veteran Jewish MP of “weaponising the Holocaust” to push her “Zionist agenda”.

Communications Officer Nick West reportedly wrote online of the Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge, that she “makes millions of us sick to our stomachs. A woman who has weaponises both her faith and the Holocaust to forward her own petty and Zionist aims. While memorialising the awful stain on humanity that was the slaughter of millions of Jews, Romany and gays, those like Hodge who wield the bloodshed as a political weapon are beyond redemption. Humanity would not miss her.”

A fellow Unite member reacted to the post by saying: “Your comment is absolutely vile and if anyone is weaponising the Holocaust, it is you.”

According to reports, this is not Mr West’s first brush with controversy in relation to antisemitism, having previously appeared to compare Israel to the Nazis, in breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism. He wrote: “Criticism of the state of Israel isn’t antisemitism. The Jews suffered great tragedy and now inflict it on others.”

He also played down antisemitism allegations in the Labour Party, writing in 2018: “As we know it’s all cobblers orchestrated by the power of the state of Israel’s lobbying and right-wing MPs’ objections to Corbyn. Labour needs to stand up and say this and stop apologising.” 

A spokesperson for Unite said: “Unite takes this matter extremely seriously.  The employee in question has been suspended and an investigation is under way.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

Image credit: JC