Yesterday in Gaza, over fifty civilians were killed and two thousand injured when Israeli armed forces fired on crowds protesting in commemoration of Nakba Day and against the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.
Labour Friends of Israel, an organisation not formally affiliated to the Labour Party, tweeted a statement about the massacre yesterday:
The tweet – a marked contrast with the Labour Party’s unequivocal condemnation – was later deleted without comment and replaced by a new statement, but the original had already caused outrage.
New Statesman contributing editor Mehdi Hasan called the tweet “appalling” and TV director Nancy Strang responded with a call for both Labour MPs and the party itself to sever ties with LFI:
That call was to be repeated numerously across social media in various ways:
Many also commented directly on Ms Strang’s and Mr Hasan’s tweets.
The MPs affiliated to LFI – and the Labour Party itself – have a decision to make.