CFI Parliamentary Chairman, Rt. Hon. Sir Eric Pickles MP has called for Naz Shah MP to be removed from the Home Affairs Select Committee which is undertaking a report into anti-Semitism, in light of reports she made a series of anti-Semitic comments. Sir Eric said:
“The Home Affairs Select Committee’s investigation into the evils of anti-Semitism is timely and very important. The findings of Select Committees are rightly respected and trusted. Naz Shah MP’s membership of the Home Affairs Select Committee risks fundamentally undermining and discrediting its investigation before it has even begun. Expert witnesses giving evidence to the Committee will question whether they will receive a fair hearing in her presence and sadly, whatever the findings, its conclusions will be fatally compromised. The only way Naz Shah should come into contact with the Home Affairs Select Committee investigation is as a witness herself”.
In the most high-profile incident yet of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, it has emerged that Bradford West MP Naz Shah called for the State of Israel to be removed from the Middle East and “relocated” to the United States, in a series of social media posts and posted an article which likened Zionism to Al Qaeda.
In a Facebook post dating from 5th August 2014, uncovered by the Guido Fawkes blog and since deleted, the Labour MP shared a graphic arguing for the “transportation” of the Israeli population out of the Middle East and into the US. She claimed in the post that the “transportation costs” of deporting Israelis would be “less than 3 years of defence spending”.
In another anti-Semitic posting, Ms Shah urged people on Facebook to back suggestions Israel was “committing war crimes” in a poll in 2014 and said that “the Jews are rallying” to vote. Another report revealed that Ms Shah had made Facebook post comparing Israelis to Hitler.
Following widespread condemnation, Ms Shah resigned as Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s PPS, and her position on the Home Affairs Select Committee is now in question. The Committee is currently investigating anti-Semitism in the UK.
