A senior Tower Hamlets councillor responsible for children’s services is a prominent member of a social media group that posted an incendiary video branding West Ham star Manor Solomon a “baby killer”.
The video, posted on Facebook in August by Tower Hamlets Palestine Solidarity Network and filmed outside the ground of the east London club, called on West Ham to expel the Israeli international.
Councillor Faysal Ahmed, Tower Hamlets Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Life Chances, is listed as a “top voice” in the Facebook group, a person who “consistently shares content your group values”.
Several other Tower Hamlets councillors are members of the group but the council refused to comment when contacted by the JC.
The video, filmed outside West Ham’s training ground and shared by Tower Hamlets Palestine Solidarity Network, had the caption: “Kick Out Baby Killer, Manor Solomon, from West Ham United!”
Solomon, 27, was enlisted for mandatory military service in the IDF in December 2017.
In the video, an activist said: “We are asking for a more [sic] firmer stance from West Ham themselves. They should not have even signed [Solomon], knowing that.”
The campaigner also called on the club to speak publicly about the situation in Gaza, describing it as genocide.
The activist cited the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the campaign would continue until Solomon left West Ham.
Campaign Against Antisemitism condemned the campaign, warning that targeting a footballer because of his Israeli identity risks creating an environment in which Jewish people are excluded from public and professional life.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The pro-Palestine mob is trying to hijack football. Hounding a player out of a football club because of their connection to the Jewish state follows a dangerous road, and we all know where it leads.
"West Ham must stand firm and reject these boycott efforts from the cult-like anti-Israel brigade.”
Alex Hearn of Labour Against Antisemitism also condemned the campaign, describing the video as “intimidation”.
He said: “Calling Manor Solomon a ‘baby killer’ and broadcasting a campaign to drive him out of his club is not protest; it is intimidation. He has been singled out because he is Israeli, not because of anything he has done. Targeting a man’s livelihood because of his nationality is discrimination, plain and simple. Any councillor who associates with this group needs to explain why.”
Solomon completed mandatory military service in Israel in 2019. The material published by the campaign did not establish that he served in a combat role.
The JC contacted Ahmed for comment. Tower Hamlets Council declined to comment.
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