Councillor ‘sorry’ for 9/11 claim
A LABOUR councillor who sits on an equality panel has apologised for sharing a conspiracy theory claiming Jews were warned about the 9/11 attacks.
Irfan Mohammed, a member of Lambeth Council, shared the post on Facebook in December 2015.
It said: “Jews working in the World Trade Centre received a text message before the incident: ‘Do not come to work in [sic] September 11’. Israeli ties to the September 11 attacks.”
Mr Mohammed shared the post which suggested that Jewish people were warned about the attacks on the World Trade Centre.
But on Wednesday Mr Mohammed used Twitter to apologise “unreservedly” for sharing the post.
And he has written the chief whip of Lambeth, Jane Edbrooke, asking for his post to be looked into as a disciplinary matter.
“I apologise unreservedly. I completely accept that I have hurt the Jewish community through my action,” he wrote.
“I apologise to friends who I have offended. I apologise to constituents I have offended. And I apologise to my Labour colleagues who fight racism every day. I have let down lots of people.”
Mr Mohammed said he shared the post, which included a video without recognising it contained antisemitic content.
“This was a stupid and thoughtless thing to do and I recognise that it was an antisemitic act. It was totally unacceptable and it was my mistake which I do not shy away from,” he wrote.
The councillor, who is a member of his council’s Equality Impact Assessment Panel and the Faiths Together in Lambeth group, said he was committed to working with all faiths, “in particular the Jewish community to learn and to tackle antisemitism in all its forms”.
He said he would write to synagogues in Lambeth to “personally apologise” for his post and said that we wanted to “listen and learn from them”.
His apology went down well with many Jewish social media followers with one writing: “I applaud your courage.”