Labour by-election candidate sparks fresh row over antisemitism

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Labour was embroiled in a fresh row over antisemitism on Sunday after it was revealed that its candidate for an upcoming by-election espoused conspiracy theories about Israel.

Azhar Ali, Labour’s candidate in the North West seat of Rochdale, suggested at a meeting of members soon after Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel that the Jewish state had deliberately relaxed its guard after warnings of an imminent threat.

“Americans warned them a day before [that] there’s something happening . . . They deliberately took the security off. They allowed . . . that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want,” he said in a recording first reported in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Israel launched its offensive on Gaza after Hamas militants stormed the country on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage, according to Israeli officials.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that 117 people had been killed across the territory overnight, pushing the total death toll from Israel’s land and air offensive to more than 28,000.

The Rochdale candidate’s comments triggered the Labour party to issue a statement in which Ali apologised to the Jewish community for his “deeply offensive, ignorant, and false” remarks.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s campaign chief, told the BBC on Sunday that Ali’s remarks were “completely wrong” and did not reflect the Labour party’s position. “I was appalled when I saw it. It’s quite right that he apologised and completely retracted, and I hope he learns a lesson from it,” he said.

Labour was facing accusations that it had failed to root out antisemitism within the party, a central pledge of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, while Ali’s comments threatened further tensions in an already toxic by-election.

The…