Party leader Keir Starmer is accused of restricting voices critical of Israel (Getty)
The British Labor Party suspended the nomination of one of its members for the upcoming general elections due to his criticism of Israel, one day after a similar move, as the party canceled the nomination of another MP who accused Israel of turning a blind eye to the attack launched by the Palestinian resistance on the seventh of last October to justify the war on the Gaza Strip. .
Yesterday, Tuesday, the party announced the suspension of the election candidacy of Graham Jones, who was chosen to compete for a seat in the north of the United Kingdom, until investigations are completed.
A British website published an audio recording of Jones during a local party meeting last October, during which he criticized Israel, describing it as a “cursed” state and saying that Britons fighting in the Israeli army should be imprisoned.
The day before yesterday, Monday, the Labor Party announced the withdrawal of the nomination of Azhar Ali, the party’s candidate in the by-elections that will be held on February 29 in Rochdale, northwest Britain, to replace MP Tony Lloyd, who died last month.
The move came after comments by the politician he had published last fall, in which he accused Israel of prior knowledge of the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7th on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and allowing the movement to carry it out to use it as a pretext for the war it launched in the Gaza Strip.
"The Labor Party has changed"
The French news agency quoted the leader of the British Labor Party, Keir Starmer, as confirming yesterday, Tuesday, commenting on the two measures, that his party has changed, in reference to the steps that the party is taking against critics of Israel, after his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, was accused of allowing criticism of Israel in the party, which is considered by those close to him Israel is anti-Semitic.
Starmer said the decision to withdraw nominations was "difficult and necessary, but when I say the Labor Party has changed under my leadership I'm serious about that."
With the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, many Muslim representatives of the Labor Party resigned in protest against the statements of party leader Keir Starmer in support of Israel, in which he justified the targeting of civilians and the siege imposed on them by the Israeli occupation.
According to opinion polls, the Labor Party is likely to form the next British government after the general elections expected in the second half of this year.
Source: French + Reuters