Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was accused of not “doing his job” during a Mayor’s Question Time debate at City Hall today after flags of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist organisation, were waved at the Al-Quds March last Sunday.
Conservative Greater London Assembly Member Andrew Boff asked the Mayor repeatedly to write to Home Secretary Amber Rudd to seek clarification over what constitutes a banned organisation and not-banned organisation after Hezbollah flags were allowed to be waved in London this past weekend.
Mr Khan failed to give a clear response to the question, accusing Mr Boff of reading from a “pre-written rant”. The London Mayor continued to say that he would “consider whether there is evidence to make the submissions you want to me to make”.
The Conservative Assembly Member called on the Mayor to “look after the interests of the Jewish population in London”.
Sadiq Khan responded: “I’ve been in close contact with the Met Police Commissioner and one of the best ways to protect vulnerable Jewish Londoners is to get more resources for the police service, that’s what I intend to do”.
The heated exchange ended with Mr Boff accusing Sadiq Khan as having a “lack of willingness to address this problem” and stating that the Mayor’s response was the most “useless answer that I’ve ever seen in this assembly”.
Watch the full exchange in the video below:
The pro-Palestinian Al-Quds Day March was held in central London last Sunday, with organisers “welcoming” demonstrators to bring Hezbollah flags to the protest. Posters at previous marches have waved Hezbollah flags and displayed signs which called for Israel’s total destruction.
In previous years, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has previously described Hezbollah as his “friends”, has spoken at the march.
In July 2013, Hezbollah’s ‘military wing’ was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the EU, following a UK-led effort. The US, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Israel designate the entirety of the organisation as a terror group. The terrorist organisation fails to recognise the State of Israel and continues to pose a threat to the Jewish state.
