A newly selected Labour parliamentary candidate has apologised for tweets from 2011 where she called a friend a “fookin Ethiopian Jew”, saying she was ”truly embarrassed and ashamed” of the comments.
Abby King, who was chosen on Sunday to be Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Aldershot, was found by the Guido Fawkes blog to have tweeted to a friend in June 2011 calling her a “fookin Ethiopian Jew, youu”.
Another time in the same month, she tweeted that her friend had said “you look like a…ETHIOPIAN JEW!”
In a statement on Monday, Ms King told the JC the tweets dated back to when she was 15 and had “no contact with or true understanding of the Jewish community".
She said the comments were part of a “silly exchange will a school friend who referred to herself as in such terms. She was white British and neither of us had an understanding of the term”.
It was only when she attended university, she said, that she came into contact with the Jewish community, subsequently joining the Jewish Labour Movement and attending its antisemitism training sessions.
Last year, she described how she walked out of Labour conference hall when someone at the podium made a "gross and upsetting" speech which dismissed antisemitism wihin Labour as a "campaign of slurs and accusations" and referenced the Al Jazeera documentary The Lobby.
Hours before her old tweets were revealed, Ms King also promoted a new video featuring Gordon Brown, saying he joined JLM in solidarity with British Jews and condemning antisemitism on the left.
Ms King said of the video: "I’m so proud to be an affiliate member of Jewish Labour and I stand in full solidarity with my Jewish siblings."
Regarding her 2011 tweets, she said there was “no excuse for antisemitism".
“I am deeply, deeply repentant and regretful of my comments and will endeavour to further my understanding of the community and their values. I am truly sorry for the offence caused," she said.
"I cannot deny the words nor can I fully justify them but I will strive to do better."
Liron Velleman, JLM's Youth and Students Office, defended Ms King, saying: "Abby has proved herself time and time again to be a friend of the Jewish community in general and Jews in Labour in particular.
"Her tweets from 2011 were offensive - something she has not denied and has apologised unreservedly for.
"As JLM Youth and Students Officer, I have no hesitation in accepting the apology as a sincere one. I look forward to working with Abby to reach out to other Jewish community organisations and finding other proactive steps to stand with the Jewish community."
