Plaid told to reconsider after activist readmitted
SENIOR members of the Jewish community in Wales have urged Plaid Cymru to reconsider their decision to readmit Sahar AlFaifi, who was suspended from the party last year for making anti-Semitic tweets on social media.
Following her reinstatement, Ms Al-Faifi has announced her intention to seek nomination as a Plaid candidate in South Wales Central at next year’s Senedd election. She already has the backing of former Plaid leader Leanne Wood.
Senior members of the Jewish community in Cardiff issued a statement which said: “[Her] posts included references to ‘The Children of Israel’ (a biblical description of Jews) causing corruption in the world, conspiracy theories about rich Jews supporting wars, criticism of Sajid Javid for attending a synagogue and support for Hamas (a proscribed terrorist organisation that calls for the death of Jews – a crime in this country). Ms Al-Faifi eventually agreed to delete or modify the posts and apologised for any offence caused.
“Subsequently, Ms Al-Faifi attended anti-semitism training in Cardiff. Some posts were deleted and the posts about Hamas and rich Jews were amended to show support for a ‘political process’. Unfortunately, Ms Al-Faifi still called for a ‘mighty victory’ for Hamas, which we asked to be clarified further to show that her support was away from the path of violence. This was not done [at the time]. In light of Ms Al-Faifi’s comments and her unrepentant attitude to the whole affair and investigation, we call upon Plaid Cymru to reconsider their decision.”
Sheila Gewolb, senior vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Deputy (representative) for Cardiff United Synagogue, said: “We raised concerns about two social media posts that she had refused to delete, despite 18 months of attempts to persuade her. It appears that she has now finally relented and deleted them, but Ms Al-Faifi’s reluctance to do so raises serious questions about her judgement, and the genuineness of her apology.”
A Plaid Cymru spokesman said: “Plaid Cymru rejects all forms of discrimination. Several years ago Sahar Al-Faifi made a handful of social media posts that she has deeply regretted and which she has acknowledged were anti-Semitic. The tweets were deleted and an apology was issued.”
In a video plugging her campaign to be a Senedd candidate, Ms Al-Faifi said: “Everyone makes a choice at some point in their lives. I choose to be confident in who I am and in my identity.
“I choose to rise up against those who hate, and spread love and hope. I choose to work tirelessly until I see a better world, a world that we can all be proud of creating together. The attacks have proved something to me. If these are the people who are looking to spread hate, then I am going to do everything I can to be the opposite.”
At the time of her suspension she said: “Several years ago I made a handful of social media posts that I regret deeply as they crossed the boundary of criticism of Israel into anti-Semitism.
“I have undertaken anti-Semitism training, both formally through the Board of Deputies and informally with Jewish colleagues, in order to ensure I never repeat the same mistakes.”
We asked her to respond to the statements made by members of the Jewish community, but she did not do so.