Plaid Cymru candidates shared social media posts mocking Israel and blaming it for the Hamas-led massacre in the days following October 7, the JC has learned.
Josh Rawcliffe, a Plaid nominee in Casnewydd Islwyn, reposted a cartoon on Facebook two days after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel, which appeared to mock the Jewish state and implied that it bore responsibility for the attack.
The cartoon, still visible on Rawcliffe’s profile so people can “make their own opinions,’ depicts a man wearing a T-shirt bearing a Magen David striking a wasps’ nest emblazoned with the Palestinian flag.
In two further images, the wasps swarm out as the man flees, before he is shown pointing back at the nest while giving interviews to the BBC, CNN and Fox News broadcasters.
Posted on October 9, 2023, the image was reshared by Rawcliffe, a town councillor, later that day.
Responding to a commenter who said the cartoon was “not really accurate” because those killed in Israel were civilians, not soldiers, and “two wrongs don’t make a right”, Rawcliffe said he agreed, adding: “I guess the picture demonstrates what the state of Israel has been doing for decades. The all-out war response from both sides isn’t what’s needed.”
The cartoon shared by Rawcliffe (Facebook)[Missing Credit]
When another user urged him to “show this to the hundreds [sic] killed, murdered, raped, and taken hostage by Hamas attacks”, Rawcliffe replied: “Could say the same about all the Palestinians who have suffered the same fate due to Israel’s illegal occupation.
“They have been infringing upon the human rights of the Palestinians for decades... No one bats an eyelid.
“I don’t care for this tit-for-tat attitude that many have... but war and bombing the life out of each other isn’t the answer. I am one of the many who wish for peace in the Middle East.”
In a separate post, Rawcliffe reposted an image stating that former prime minister Rishi Sunak was “the only XL bully in the UK that needs putting down for all our safeties”, referring to new regulations around the aggressive dog breed.
Meanwhile, Elin Hywel, a Plaid candidate in Gwynedd Maldwyn and a sitting councillor, reposted a comment on October 7, 2024, describing violence against the Jewish state as “resistance to colonialism”. The previous day, she suggested Israel was planning to kill people from Ireland with the support of the UK and Welsh weapons.
“Think about this - Israel using weapons - some from Wales (?) and with the support of the UK, which includes the Welsh Government, to KILL people from Ireland [referring to the recent deaths of Irish Unifil peacekeepers in Lebanon]. Surely this will wake up those who are still asleep to the horrors of our blind compliance with Israel??? We are responsible,” she wrote.
Other reposts from her account included a claim that Hezbollah had been proscribed as a terrorist organisation “as a means to discredit Jeremy Corbyn for ‘supporting terrorists’”, as well as praise for the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, credited in the post with “smack[ing] down the ‘Israel has a right to exist’ talking point”.
And Carrie Harper, Plaid’s lead candidate on its Fflint Wrecsam list, defended a colleague accused of sharing an antisemitic conspiracy theory linking US police violence to Israel after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
In a post on X a week after Floyd’s death, former Plaid candidate Sahar Al-Faifi wrote: “If you wonder where did these American cops trained, look no further than #Israel. Oppression is one and the struggle is transitional. We stand with Palestinians & with #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter.”
At the time, the Board of Deputies said Al-Faifi had propagated “an antisemitic conspiracy theory” and called for her expulsion.
Writing in an online article the following month, Harper defended her colleague, saying: “It seems to me to be a leap to brand this particular tweet as antisemitic.
“American police do train in Israel and are taught various techniques by Israeli security services... So whilst accuracy is of course important, it’s also vital not to simply dismiss genuine concerns as antisemitic.”
In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack, Harper also posted on X about Israel’s “brutal apartheid system”.
“We should condemn attacks on innocent civilians whoever inflicts them. We should also condemn the brutal apartheid system Israel imposes on the Occupied Palestinian Territories which ensures no route to peace,” she wrote.
Later that month, speaking at a vigil for Gaza, she appeared to attribute the October 7 attack to “colonialism”, adding: “Here in Wales we understand colonialism very well too, because Wales was England’s first colony.”
A fourth Plaid candidate, Vivek Thuppil, described Israel as a “terrorist state” in posts on the Bluesky social media platform and said the country should be proscribed.
In a separate report alleging that the IDF “tortured a one-year-old child,” Thuppil wrote that “Israel is an evil entity, in every sense of the word”.
Thuppil has defended his post labelling Israel a 'terrorist entity' (Bluesky)[Missing Credit]
It comes as polling shows the Welsh nationalist party, which officially adopted a motion supporting a complete boycott of Israel (BDS) in 2024 to "treat the state of Israel as a pariah state," could secure a sweeping victory. The party is poised to become the largest in the Senedd elections on May 7, ending 27 years of Labour dominance in the Welsh parliament.
Following reporting of Rawcliffe’s posts, a Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “Joshua Rawcliffe has acknowledged that some of his social media activity prior to entering politics was in poor taste.”
After his comments were reported in the Telegraph, Thuppil – who is standing on Plaid’s list in Gwynedd Maldwyn – said the newspaper and Reform UK were attempting to “distract us with culture wars, so that people don't see their plans to rip up workers' rights, send Welsh people to die in Trump & Netanyahu's wars, & privatise the NHS”.
Rawcliffe told the JC: “The post I shared of the cartoon doesn’t state anywhere that I’m blaming the Jews for the October 7 attack. It isn’t my fault if people have interpreted it this way.
“What I felt it demonstrated was the ongoing oppression and aggression towards the Palestinian people that has gone on for over half a century, which in itself is what helped create that vacuum that created Hamas. And just to be clear, I do not support Hamas and I do not support genocide.
“It depicts the nation of Israel with the flag emblazoned on the shirt. As you have stated, my comments within the post actually condemned the attacks from both sides, calling for lasting peace in the Middle East.
“I made a point of leaving it up, so that if people did want to make their own opinions on it, they can by reading all the comments on there and not just the ones that the media wishes to share.
"Since October 7 it’s been reported that over 20,000 Palestinian children have lost their lives and Gaza is nothing but a wasteland…. How in any walk of life can that be deemed acceptable?
“Israel hasn’t stopped there either, with the help of America, they started another illegal war against Iran, and they’ve invaded Lebanon, bombing towns and villages with white phosphorus munitions (which are illegal) and destroying vital infrastructure.
“I have seen mutilated babies, people blown apart, and children melted from the white phosphorus munitions. I’ve seen ambulance crews getting bombed by the IDF, and then bombing the rescue crews for them. I have also witnessed insider videos of the IDF ‘playing games’ with Palestinians that one would expect to see in the Squid Game series.
“Netanyahu has been labelled a war criminal by the ICC, and nations across the world are calling for his arrest.
“As for the Rishi Sunak post, it was a joke shared in poor taste. At the time, he was the leader of a party that had imposed over a decade of crushing austerity, which has cost lives and plunged the poorest in our nation into further suffering, poverty and deprivation.
“I condemn any unnecessary loss of life or the extermination of any sentient being. Especially in this case of extermination set on the basis of a being’s physical appearance and attributes.”
The JC approached Hywel, Harper and Thuppil for comment.
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