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Tories investigate councillor who shared Facebook posts, including claim Jewish MP was 'funded by Israel lobby'

Mohammad Aslam posted links to articles, including one that decried 'Radical Jewish Terrorism'

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The Conservative Party is investigating a councillor over posts he shared on Facebook, including one that said a Jewish MP was "funded by [the] Israel lobby" and another decrying “Radical Jewish Terrorism”.

Mohammad Aslam, councillor for the Bradley ward in Pendle, shared a post saying the “Gaza massacre is the price of a ‘Jewish state’” and an article that claimed that then Labour MP Ruth Smeeth was “funded by [the] Israel lobby”.

Another post Cllr Aslam shared - now deleted - included the image of a bloodied child and a description of the Israeli government’s actions as “Radical Jewish Terrorism”.

The post added: “Israel is an illegal state. Israel is a Terrorist State.”

In another post, he shared a video which read “Jerusalem, we are coming”, attributed to Hamas, showing gun-toting militants moving forward in a military parade.

He also shared two videos of Turkish President Erdogan calling Israel “a terrorist state”.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party told the JC: “This matter is under investigation.

“Our complaints process is rightly a confidential one but there are a wide range of sanctions to challenge and change behaviour, including conditions to undertake training, periods of suspension and expulsion, and these are applied on a case-by-case basis.”

Mr Aslam was approached for comment but had not responded as this article went live.

The Lancashire Telegraph previously reported on a private message allegedly sent from Mr Aslam’s account, in which he told the person: “Everyone says you have a mind of Jews”.

A spokesperson for Cllr Aslam said at the time that he did not recall sending the message, adding: “His Facebook has been hacked in the past”.

Concerns about Cllr Aslam were raised before the General Election by the Labour Party, though Cllr Aslam was a Labour councillor before he defected to the Tories in 2015.

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