Pro-Gaza MP dubbed ‘fool’ and urged to apologise for Emily Damari comments

He was roundly condemned by parliamentarians from across the political spectrum.

Lord Pickles, the former cabinet minister and Conservative Friends of Israel’s parliamentary chair in the House of Lords told the JC that Khan’s remarks were “a new low.

“For this comfortable middle-aged man to criticise a young woman who was shot, kidnapped from her home, held as a prisoner, mocked and tortured by terrorists, brings shame to Parliament. Mr Khan has made a fool of himself. He should have taken down his offensive statement and apologised to Emily immediately.”

Labour MP Luke Akehurst said that he was “astonished” that “a British MP would feel they can tone police someone like Emily who lived through the horrors of October 7 and being a Hamas hostage and tell her what she can and can't say about how to resolve the current conflict.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail last week, Damari revealed the appalling conditions that she was subject to while in Hamas captivity, including that she spent four months in a cramped cage in a tunnel underneath Gaza.

“The cages were the worst,” Damari recounted, recalling the unbearable heat, humidity, and the floors crawling with cockroaches. “The silence murders the ears… You go crazy in it,” she said.

The 29-year-old was shot and badly wounded during her abduction on October 7.

Despite losing fingers and carrying a bullet in her leg, she endured constant pain, hunger and degrading conditions – including being allowed to use the bathroom only once or twice a day in fetid tunnels.

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine also rebuked Khan over his comments.

The MP for Edinburgh West told the JC: “Those taken hostage during Hamas’s brutal terror attacks on October 7 deserve space to heal after being forced to live in unthinkable conditions for months.

"Many will have lost family members or friends on that day, and need to be given time to grieve.

Despite her party backing the move to recognise a Palestinian state, she hit out at the targeting of Damari by Khan.

“Our focus should not be on attacking survivors but bringing the remaining hostages home and securing a lasting peace. Unhelpful interventions from public figures do neither”, she added.

Khan won his Birmingham seat by defeating Labour’s Khalid Mahmood – previously the first Muslim MP to be elected in England – at the 2024 general election.

The JC has previously reported that he publicly questioned the extent of Hamas’ October 7 atrocities.

Earlier this year, he was criticised for advertising a controversial motion that appeared to equate the hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons on Holocaust Memorial Day.

A Labour MP told the JC at the time: “It's a disgusting comparison made worse that it has been emailed around on Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a shameful day for Parliament."

Ayoub Khan MP has been contacted for comment.