Labour MP pictured clapping Zarah Sultana calling Zionism a ‘racist supremacist ideology’

In footage available on Stand Up to Racism’s Instagram account, she says: “We do not give cover to racist supremacist ideology whether in this country or abroad”, to applause from the crowd.

Ribeiro-Addy, who appeared to be scrolling on her phone as Sultana was speaking, stopped to applaud her remarks along with the audience.

One member of the Labour Party’s governing body, the National Executive Committee, labelled Ribeiro-Addy’s clapping “a disgrace”.

Other speakers at Stand Up to Racism’s event on October 16 included local Tower Hamlets MP Apsana Begum, who last month had the Labour whip restored after being suspended for rebelling against the leadership, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal.

Despite her comments about Zionism at the event, Sultana evoked the memory of the Battle of Cable Street, where the local Jewish community and others took to the street to block a planned march by British fascist leader Oswold Mosley through the east end of London.

“From fighting Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts to the National Front, this community has always resisted hate”, Sultana said in a social media post.

However, the Jewish Leadership Council criticised the fact that a supposedly anti-racist event would feature comments that would seem objectionable to many British Jews.

“This is a meeting ostensibly assembled to oppose racism which applauds comments which label the majority of Jews as racist supremacists. You can't claim to be anti-racist if you sit by silently or applaud when you hear someone using language which we know inspires hatred against Jews”, a spokesperson for the organisation told the JC.

Their point was echoed by a Labour source who said: “It’s highly unfortunate and somewhat ironic that, in wanting to stand up to racism, these Labour MPs have chosen to share a platform with the representative of a party which has done so much to stoke community tensions, spread antisemitism and isolate Britain’s Jews.”

Sultana clashed with the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy in the House of Commons last week after the Coventry South MP claimed that “Maccabi Tel Aviv’s racist fan hooliganism cannot be separated from Israeli militarism”.

Sultana added that “many of these fans are active or former soldiers who have taken part in Israel’s genocide in Gaza [who] should be investigated for war crimes the moment they set foot on British soil, not welcomed into our stadiums”, before accusing the government of defending “the genocidal apartheid state of Israel”.

Nandy hit back, saying she rejected the conflation between fans of the Israeli team and the actions of the Israeli government: “I have to say that conflating being Jewish and being Israeli is in itself antisemitism. I think she should take more care with her remarks”, she added.

Sultana was first elected as a Labour MP in 2019. Prior to her election, the JC revealed that she used “white” as a slur against a Jewish student, for which she subsequently apologised.

Earlier this year, she quit the Labour Party and announced that she would be setting up a new party alongside Jeremy Corbyn.

During the debate to proscribe Palestine Action, Sultana strongly objected to the measures and declared “We are all Palestine Action” in the Commons before being heckled by Labour whip Christian Wakeford.

One senior Labour source expressed disappointment at Ribeiro-Addy’s actions.

"Bell should take more care about the company she keeps. This isn't the first time Sultana has spouted this antisemitic hate. I thought Bell would want to call out racism, not applaud it."

They went on to say that both Ribeiro-Addy and Begum had undermined the Government at a time when the Cabinet ministers, and Sir Keir Starmer himself, are trying to offer reassurances to the Jewish community.
"This is so frustrating – the vast, vast majority of Labour MPs are 100 per cent behind the PM when he says he wants to put his arms round a worried and fearful Jewish community. But all it takes is one or two to indulge in far-left posturing and everyone is tarred with the same brush. Jewish people need to know: Labour's better than this”, they told the JC.

Since the event, the planned demonstration by UKIP was blocked by the Metropolitan Police because of “community concerns”. 

Bell Ribiero-Addy and the Labour Party did not respond to requests for comment.