Labour suspends MP over Israel comments
MP Naz Shah has been suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation into anti-Semitic social media posts.
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn had been under huge pressure to take action after initially giving the Bradford West MP only a reprimand over the comments – made before she was an MP.
A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn and Naz Shah have mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended from the Labour Party by the General Secretary.
“Pending investigation, she is unable to take part in any party activity and the whip is removed.”
The announcement came an hour after Ms Shah made the latest in a series of apologies over the posts – telling the House of Commons she “profoundly” regretted her behaviour and insisting she had since learned.
Earlier, she was summoned by Mr Corbyn, who told her the comments were “offensive and unacceptable”, but accepted that he believed she no longer held those views.
But Shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy was among Labour figures saying the party faced “real problems” if it was seen not to apply the same standards to MPs as to other activists.
And Prime Minister David Cameron said it was “quite extraordinary” Ms Shah had been allowed to remain in the party.
Ms Shah quit her role as a Parliamentary assistant to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell yesterday.
In a 2014 Facebook post, she shared a graphic of Israel’s outline superimposed onto a map of the US under the headline “Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict – Relocate Israel into United States”, with the comment: “Problem solved”.
The Guido Fawkes website – which published the post – also pointed to another made before Ms Shah was an MP, which used the hashtag #IsraelApartheid above a quote saying “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal”.
Ms Shah told MPs: “I wholeheartedly apologise to this House for the words I used before I became a member.
“I accept and understand that the words I used caused upset and hurt to the Jewish community and I deeply regret that.
“Anti-Semitism is racism, full stop. As an MP I will do everything in my power to build relations between Muslims, Jews and people of different faiths and none.”
Ms Shah wrote in Jewish News that she wished to make an “unequivocal apology for statements and ideas that I have foolishly endorsed in the past”.
“The manner and tone of what I wrote in haste is not excusable. With the understanding of the issues I have now I would never have posted them. I have to own up to the fact that ignorance is not a defence.”
A senior Labour aide accepted that the remark in the Facebook post was anti-Semitic, but added that Ms Shah had said she was now personally “shocked” by her own actions of two years ago.
“We are not suggesting she is antiSemitic. We are saying that she made remarks that she does not agree with,” he said.