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MP needs police protection after threats from anti-Israel activists

March 29, 2012 12:06

By

Jennifer Lipman,

Jennifer Lipman

2 min read

A Conservative MP who backs the two-state solution was forced to remove details of his constituency surgeries and contact information from his website after being bombarded with abusive messages and death threats from anti-Israel activists.

Henley MP John Howell expressed his gratitude for the messages of support he has been sent after the issue was highlighted by the Zionist Federation.

Mr Howell, who won Boris Johnson's former seat in a 2008 by-election, was offered police protection after being targeted by activists. He became the subject of a hate campaign after an email conversation with Harry Fear, a prominent pro-Palestinian campaigner, was posted on his blog and on Facebook.

Mr Fear sent Mr Howell an email on March 10, the week during which violence erupted between Israel and Gaza, accompanied by a photograph from 2009 asking what the MP was doing "to see that Israel halts the military actions that are taking place in defiance of international law and basic human decency".