In leaked WhatsApp messages, Cllr Henshaw asked her Labour colleagues if "Zionsts" were behind the far-right riots in the summer[Missing Credit]
Councillor Amber Afzal of Garrison ward responded: “Do they mean release of all hostages? And are they mentioning anything about the arrest of the IDF rapist soldiers?”
Henshaw replied: “Only their hostages. It was very difficult walking past. Twice. They asked me if they had my support. I just said I supported all human beings.”
Afzal offered sympathy: “I can imagine it must have been difficult.”
Another councillor wrote: “I'll be walking past shortly so will say the same thing.”
Henshaw also appeared to suggest “Zionists” were behind far-right riots that took place in the UK last summer following the murders of three young girls at a dance studio in Southport. The riots lasted six days and culminated on August 5. On the day that Henshaw messaged the Preston WhatsApp group, Stand Up to Racism organised anti-racist rallies across UK towns and cities in response.
Henshaw wrote: “I saw something recently saying that this far right sh*t is because a) it’s being funded by Zionists b) our new government has agreed to drop its objection to the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu and c) arms exports to Israel have been suspended. Does anyone know if there’s any truth in this?”
Cllr Amber Afzal said “it must have been difficult” to walk past a hostage vigil[Missing Credit]
At this point, another councillor urged members to take the discussion offline: “We have a Labour Group Tuesday. I am sure we can discuss the events of recent weeks.”
The leaked messages were shared with Labour member and retired teacher Harry Spillman, 77, who lodged complaints with the councillors and the local party. The JC has seen evidence of multiple emails sent by Spillman to local Labour figures.
After months without any apparent action, Spillman told the JC he believes there has been a “cover up.”
“These people are still in their posts. Nothing appears to have been done about their comments,” he said, noting that Labour members are normally suspended by the party during any investigation. Cllr Henshaw remains a cabinet member for climate change, while Cllr Afzal sits on the planning and regulation cabinet.
This week, Spillman submitted a question for Thursday’s full council meeting, which was initially accepted and posted online but later removed.
In his question, Spillman accused Henshaw of promoting “a full-blooded antisemitic trope” by speculating that Zionists funded the riots that followed the Southport murders in July 2024.
“Yet no other councillor called it out,” he noted.
Standing outside Preston Council on Thursday, Spillman and four others handed out printed copies of his banned question to council meeting attendees. One local councillor accused him of “victimising and harassing” the councillors involved in the chat.
Harry Spillman (centre) handed out printed copies of his question which was pulled by the council as members were entering the building on Thursday for a meeting[Missing Credit]
Savana Dable, 55, a local business owner named in the WhatsApp exchange, holds a monthly silent vigil for the hostages. “We do not have any flags, just posters of the hostages. We do get abuse but 95 per cent of people who walk past support us. These comments on WhatsApp really shocked me.
“These are powerful people talking about two Jews in Preston. There aren’t many of us," she told the JC.
Dable said that she had tried to help resolve the issue over the last seven months. “We tried to engage with the councillors when we heard about this. One said she wouldn’t meet me because our allegations were ‘hearsay’. Another was more concerned about who had leaked the messages rather than the antisemitism in the Labour Party,” Dable said.
She suspected the council was “trying to bury the issue.”
Dable pointed to the council’s frequent discussion of Palestine, its decision to fly the Palestinian flag in 2014, and recent attempts to twin with a Palestinian town. In 2023, Preston Labour councillor Ismail Bax was suspended after sharing a tweet appearing to justify the slaughter of Israelis.
Afzal recently signed a letter calling for Britain to suspend all arms sales to Israel.
Spillman, a Labour member for 45 years, said: “There is a lot of talk about Palestine but not much talk about Ukraine” at local party meetings. “People will believe that hard things are being done to the Palestinians, but they won’t believe that hard things are being done to the Jews.”
A Hackney native who moved to Preston from Brighton in the past decade, Spillman went on: “There are plenty of churches and mosques here, but no rabbi or synagogue. The one thing that makes us think most about how Jewish we are is when we encounter antisemitism.”
He condemned those who remained silent in the WhatsApp group. “Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. Silence in the face of evil is also evil.”
“One of the councillors posted about Holocaust Memorial Day on Facebook. But I feel sad that she can say that and not stand up against antisemitism when she comes across it.”
He said of the other councillors in the WhatsApp group, “They’re not antisemitic, but they don’t want to know about it. They want to protect their colleagues and do not want to be the person who causes someone else to be suspended and expelled from the party. Nor do I, but I feel that I have a duty to stand up against racism.”
Responding to the JC’s questions, a Preston City Council spokesperson said: “A live investigation by the Labour Party is ongoing and so we are unable to comment on the case at this time.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures. Where behaviour is found to have fallen below the high standards we expect, action will always be taken in line with Labour Party rules.”
Cllr Henshaw and Cllr Afzal have been approached for comment.
