The mayor of Bath has said he is “incredibly apologetic” after resharing posts on his social media which claimed the attack on Jewish ambulance service Hatzola was an “Israeli false flag” operation.
Dr Bharat Pankhania, who is also a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, reposted a series of claims about the arson attack on his personal X account.
The posts included the allegation that it was a “false flag” and two others which suggested the incident was insurance fraud. He has since deleted the posts.
“I have been made aware that I have reposted or replied to some posts which have never aligned to my values and beliefs, and which are abhorrent,” Pankhania wrote on Tuesday.
“I am incredibly apologetic that I have not lived up to the standards I set myself. I have, of course, deleted them, and I wish to apologise unreservedly.”
Two people were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and then released on bail following the incident on Monday in Golders Green, which police are treating as an “antisemitic hate crime”.
Despite the apology, Pankhania has posted other inflammatory messages, such as one just over a week ago that claimed Iran “posed no threat” to the USA and that America was “forced” into the war by “Israel and their powerful lobby”.
He has also reshared posts in recent days from figures such as Zarah Sultana, who claimed that “Starmer, Mandelson and McSweeney are part of the Epstein class taking the British public for a ride”.
I have been made aware that I have reposted or replied to some posts which have never aligned to my values and beliefs, and which are abhorrent.
— Dr Bharat Pankhania (@doctorshaib) March 24, 2026
I am incredibly apologetic that I have not lived up to the standards I set myself.
I have of course deleted them, and I wish to…
Pankhania was first elected to Bath and North East Somerset Council in 2019 as a Liberal Democrat, and in 2023 he was re-elected and became deputy mayor of Bath.
In June 2025, he was elected mayor for the customary one-year term.
In his inaugural speech he announced his theme for the year, “Education is Empowerment”.
He said education “is not just about acquiring knowledge – it is also about liberation, it is about making the right critical analysis, using wisdom and making sound judgements, especially in our current world order of deliberate manipulation and misinformation.”
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