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Diane Abbott calls IDF the ‘Jewish Defence Forces’ in deleted ‘Gaza genocide’ tweet

The MP was replying to a post suggesting that Israeli soldiers ‘entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport’

July 1, 2025 12:02
Diane Abbott MP GettyImages-1166488193 cut out (Read-Only)
Diane Abbott MP (Image: Getty)
3 min read

Hackney MP Diane Abbott has been strongly criticised for a now-deleted social media post that accused the “Jewish Defence Forces” of committing genocide in Gaza.

On Tuesday morning, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington shared a post on X displaying a quote from American journalist Chris Hedges, writing about his account from Gaza in 2001, where he alleged that IDF “soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport”.

At the time, his account was strongly disputed by media fairness campaign group Camera, who described his remarks as “incendiary” and said his recounting of the incident referenced was at odds with coverage from other outlets.

Abbott shared the post along with the caption: “Beyond horrific that the Jewish Defence Force is gunning down Palestinians as they queue for food #GazaGenocide”, before deleting the post later that morning.