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Labour MP Damien Egan offered extra security

New Kingswood MP is married to Israeli Yossi Felberbaum

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Labour Party candidate, Damien Egan (L), leaves with his husband Yossi Felberbaum after being declared the winner in the Kingswood by-election (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

The newly elected Member of Parliament for Kingswood, Damien Egan, has been offered enhanced security protection because protesters have made threats against him and his Israeli husband.

Parliamentary authorities are understood to be holding talks with Egan over his protection, according to The Mail on Sunday.

The new MP overturned a large Tory majority in the Kingswood by-election on Thursday. He appeared at the election count with his husband and since then anti-Israel extremists have subjected the couple to abuse.

The Labour MP converted to Judaism after meeting Israeli Yossi Felberbaum, who was born and raised in Kiryat Yam. Felberbaum served in the IDF and studied at Ben-Gurion University before moving to the UK, where he works as a software engineer at Google. Like most Israelis, Felberbaum completed his required military service, after which he worked for a further spell in the army as a software engineer.

Controversial rapper, Lowkey, took to X (formerly Twitter) where he told his followers: “Israeli soldier Yossi Felberbaum actively recruits for the infamous Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200. It spies on Palestinian electronic communications for the purpose of blackmail and secret evidence. It has been condemned by 43 whistleblowers from within the unit.”

One X user said Egan was: â€śAnother Zionist parachuted into Labour,” and a different tweet read: “This is shocking. The tentacles run deep.”

Another social media user responded: “How are we going to stop this, Lowkey?”

Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: “"It's disgusting that a new MP's husband is targeted by left-wing trolls, using the worst conspiratorial left antisemitism, simply because he once served in the Israeli army. It's racism and so-called progressives doing this on Twitter should take a long hard look at themselves."

Last week, the home of Tory MP Tobias Ellwood was targeted by up to 80 anti-Israel protesters. Tory Minister Mike Freer  recently decided to step down from politics after an arson attack on his office and threats to his life made in part because of his pro-Israel stance and his condemnation of antisemitism.

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