Become a Member
News

Labour asked to withdraw anti-Zionist MPs

● Board of Deputies asks Labour Party to withdraw conspiracy-theory MPs from poll

April 8, 2010 11:56
090310 ELECTIONBADGE

ByMartin Bright, Martin Bright

4 min read

The Board of Deputies has asked the Labour Party to consider whether two anti-Zionist MPs should be withdrawn as candidates following comments warning voters about the alleged influence of the "Israel lobby" on the UK election.

The unprecedented intervention from the Board follows comments from Martin Linton and Sir Gerald Kaufman last month at a meeting in Parliament held by Friends of Al-Aqsa to discuss Israeli house demolitions.

Mr Linton, MP for Battersea and chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, has since apologised for describing the "long tentacles of Israel" reaching into British politics.

The Battersea MP said he was sorry for any offence but maintained he was not aware of the antisemitic precedents for the image of a Jewish octopus stretching around the world.