As the SKWAWKBOX reported earlier, Labour MP Catherine West last night announced that she was suspending her membership of the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) group as a result of its ‘victim-blaming’ statement – subsequently deleted – about the massacre of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza on Monday.
Labour MPs and officials have come under increasing pressure to end their association with the group.
According to Palestine-focused news site Electronic Intifada, Ms West is not the only MP distancing herself from LFI. The site reports that Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, emailed a response to a constituent who had challenged her involvement with the group – she is listed as an ‘LFI Supporter in Parliament’:
Ms Siddiq’s email stated that she had never ‘signed up’ with LFI and that she would be approaching the organisation to check why she was listed.
LFI does not appear to publish a press office number, but the SKWAWKBOX has emailed the group:
Tulip Siddiq has reportedly emailed constituents stating that she has never signed up to be an LFI supporter and that she will be contacting you to query the fact that she is listed as a ‘parliamentary supporter’.
Please confirm by return:
- whether Ms Siddiq proactively joined your organisation
- whether any other MPs have ever been registered as LFI members/supporters without their explicit consent and if so, how many
- what the normal procedure is for an MP to be approached to join, or to proactively sign up for, membership/supporter status
A response is awaited.
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Emily Thornberry, who the heck are you kidding, yourself or LP members or both?
It’s NOT the purpose the aim or the actions of the LFI to seek a two State solution in Palestine therefore there is ZERO chance of you being able to influence it from within. Do you think you have a voice or an opinion which the LFI will listen to? not a chance in hell! The LFI is financed by Israel for one purpose. It is not to build bridges, it is to make sure that someone such as Jeremy Corbyn NEVER becomes Labour Leader and by being a member of the LFI you are conspiring in that plan.
The LAST thing Israel wants is a two State solution, If you are genuine, I don’t even believe you believe it, you are simply digging your heels in in an obstinate show of pique against calls for you to abandon your membership of that disgraceful organisation. What Israel wants is the whole of Palestine but without the Palestinians and they certainly wouldn’t be financing the LFI to act against their long term plans!
One of the reasons I said “if you are genuine” is because a few days ago you said you were sick of the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, when you know full well that in the LP there is probably LESS anti-semitism than in the general population. By saying what you said, you have given succour to those real anti-Semites who accuse Jews who do not accept Zionism, of not being ‘real Jews’ and have even succeeded in getting some of them suspended or expelled from the Party!
You and any Labour MPs who genuinely want to see a Labour Government led by Jeremy Corbyn should do the right thing and get out of the disgusting LFI.
Well said Jack T.
“One of the reasons I said “if you are genuine” is because a few days ago you said you were sick of the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, when you know full well that in the LP there is probably LESS anti-semitism than in the general population.”
And no doubt she also knows – as do the LFI and the Board of Deputies etc, etc – that the vast majority of people in the LP who have been accused of anti-semitism have been falsely accused.
Can someone assist in answering these two questions:
1) Since the Labour Party of Israel has cut ties with the British Labour Party over claims of the latter’s anti-semitism, do they still have ties with LFI?
2) How do we interpret the following Rule in relation to recent LFI issue: rule 2.I.4(b), which states that “a member of the Party who joins and/ or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the Party… shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a Party member”
Bloody good point 2.I.4(b) The NEC needs to clarify this