Comments ‘give fuel to social media demons’

A JEWISH community leader in Preston says comments made by Azhar Ali have given fuel to “demons” on social media spreading other unsubstantiated claims about the state.

Jeremy Dable, the

Jewish representative on the Preston Faith Covenant, said: “All the demons are out there making all the completely unsupported allegations under the sun - and it’s just a sign of the age that they can do that.

“People challenge them, but we’re back to the 18th century with the standard of rhetoric - it’s completely without any restraint.

“It falls on the person who says something to prove it, not the person who denies it. So if [Azhar Ali] says the Israelis [allowed people to be] killed people on 7th October, then it’s his test to prove it - and he can’t.

“It’s disgusting that he should make such an appalling blood libel,” added Mr. Dable.

County Cllr Ali was one of almost 40 of the party’s elected representatives from across Lancashire to sign a letter to Sir Keir Starmer calling for a shift in the party leader’s stance over the war in Gaza in the weeks after the Hamas attack.

Mr Dable said that County Cllr Ali’s secretlyrecorded comments were “beyond the pale” - and will have caused widespread offence within the Jewish community.

He said: “The vast majority of people who’ve got any communal sense of their Jewish identity are Zionists.

“We may have different ideas about the future of Israel and politics within it - but it’s a strange Jew that doesn’t believe in the right of Israel to survive as a nation.

“We all believe in the right of Israel to exist as an independent democratic state.

“Every single one will be disgusted by what this man said.”