Labour still has much to do if it is to eradicate anti-Semitism

PITY the people of Rochdale who face a choice at the byelection later this month between veteran extremist George Galloway and the mad conspiracy theorist Azhar Ali who is standing for Labour.

Talk about a choice between the lesser of two evils.

I’m reminded of Henry Kissinger’s response when asked about the war between Iran and Iraq: ‘It’s a pity they can’t both lose.’

Yet Rochdale will have to go to the polls and, realistically, the only two people who can win are the appalling Galloway and the disgraceful Ali.

Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party by Tony Blair for calling on British troops to ‘refuse to obey illegal orders’ during the war in Iraq. He praised Arab dictators and called the collapse of the Soviet Union ‘the biggest catastrophe of my life’.

Labour candidate Azhar Ali has been recorded by The Mail on Sunday claiming Israel deliberately allowed at least 1,200 of its citizens to be massacred on October 7 to give it the ‘green light’ to invade Gaza.

He told a Lancashire Labour Party meeting that the Israelis had been warned but ‘deliberately took the security off, they allowed... that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.’

This is the sort of nonsense you hear from mad obsessives or find in the dark corners of the internet. They are the ramblings of a lunatic conspiracy theorist, not the leader of a major county council and someone standing for Parliament.

He is obviously completely unfit to be a Labour MP but the problem is that the nominations for the election have closed and he can’t be replaced.

Who on earth would stand alongside him or campaign for him now? He may have issued an apology for his remarks but no one will believe it because he can’t undo what he said. Surely he can’t be allowed to take the Labour whip or stand again at the general election if he does manage to beat Galloway.

There is no doubt Keir Starmer is much better than Jeremy Corbyn, who stood accused of supporting extremism and tolerating anti-Semitism. Sir Keir’s support for Israel since the October 7 atrocities has been determined and resolute, even in the face of criticism from some in his party.

Labour has taken steps to deal with the anti- Jewish racism that poisoned the party under his predecessor, but I always thought it was far too soon to say the problem had been dealt with and Ali’s disgusting comments show how much more work there is still to do.

There is clearly a serious issue in Britain and Labour needs to take a lead. London and other major cities are being taken over by cranks and racists attacking Israel every Saturday. Some of them openly support Hamas or the Houthi terrorists in Yemen. They chant for Israel to be destroyed, for Hamas to ‘hit and bomb Tel Aviv’ or even about a massacre of Jews by a Muslim army.

THE death of innocent civilians in Gaza is heartbreaking and many of those marching no doubt mean well. But if you side with the Hamas terrorists who deliberately started the war by murdering, kidnapping and raping innocent civilians, don’t tell me you are not an extremist. And if the only country you want to see abolished is the only Jewish one, don’t tell me you’re not a racist.

I am sure decent mainstream Muslims don’t support terrorism and extremism, but there is clearly a huge problem if even those we are told are moderate and in a position of leadership like Councillor Ali behave like this in private.

Labour has always prided itself on being the ‘political home’ to the Muslim community and must now take the extremists on.

No longer can they play community politics and rely on so-called and self-appointed ‘community leaders’ to deliver the votes.

They must show leadership, confront the Islamists and win the argument. That is the only way to give moderate voices in the Muslim community the confidence and strength to speak up too.