Senior Labour MP took six months to delete anti-Semitic post
Afzal Khan delayed taking action after claiming that he was ‘mortified’ by offensive comments
A LABOUR frontbencher who claimed that he was “mortified” to discover he had “accidentally” shared anti-Semitic posts failed to remove the remarks from his Facebook page for another six months after his apology.
Afzal Khan, the shadow immigration minister, who said he was “sincerely sorry” for sharing a post in 2015 which referred to an “Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate” and “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars”, only removed the post from his Facebook page yesterday afternoon, after being asked by this newspaper why it remained.
Campaigners had alleged that Mr Khan’s failure to remove the remarks called into question the sincerity of his apology.
Yesterday Lord Mann, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on anti-Semitism, said: “These posts are deeply offensive to the [Rothschild] family and deeply offensive to the Jewish community. This is one of the most common anti-Semitic tropes.
“I will ensure that Mr Khan is provided with some technical expertise to assist him.”
Euan Philipps, spokesman for the Labour Against Anti-Semitism campaign, called for Labour to suspend Mr Khan and carry out an investigation.
The post shared by Mr Khan in 2015 featured a video of a US comedian talking about Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
Text below the video referred to an “Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate” and “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars”.
The BBC disclosed in July 2019 that Mr Khan had shared the post on his Facebook profile.
At the time he said: “I am mortified and sincerely sorry about this genuine accident.
“I didn’t read the text below, which contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy about the Rothschilds. I would never have shared it if I had seen that.”
Yesterday, after The Sunday Telegraph asked Labour why the post remained on Mr Khan’s Facebook page, a spokesman for the MP said: “This was a genuine accident. Afzal is committed to tackling anti-Semitism and bringing communities together. He set up the Greater Manchester Muslim-Jewish Forum and he was awarded a CBE for his work to strengthen community cohesion and interfaith relations.”
Last night Mr Philipps said: “We demand that the Labour Party do what they should have done in September: immediately suspend Mr Khan and carry out a full investigation into his conduct.”
During his campaign for election in 2017 Mr Khan was criticised for earlier remarks on social media in which he compared Israel to a Nazi regime.
He had posted a comment on Twitter stating: “The Israeli government are acting like Nazis in Gaza.” The words derived from the headline of a blog post that he was sharing.
At the time Mr Khan said: “I did not then – nor do I now – endorse the content of the article I tweeted. I have a long track record of fighting racism, including anti-Semitism. I was new to Twitter and made a mistake, which I apologised for.
“In 2008 I was awarded a CBE in part for my work encouraging greater understanding between Muslims and Jews. As an MEP I have continued this work on the parliamentary intergroup against anti-Semitism. Judge me on my track record.”