Councillor apologises for comparing Holocaust to Palestinian plight

A Labour councillor in Ealing has apologised for a comment in which she apparently likened the plight of the Palestinians to the Holocaust, hours after the Jewish News exposed her remarks.

Aysha Raza took to Twitter during the Parliamentary debate on recognition of Palestine to write: “Surely as survivors of holocaust would be adamant that they would not be responsible for another…”

The London Jewish Forum and Labour Friends of Israel both urged the Labour councillor to apologise.

Within hours of the Jewish News running the story, the councillor tweeted in the early hours of this morning: “Apologies to those offended by a prior tweet. Jewish people suffered terribly from the Holocaust. Hope for a peaceful future for the region.“

She also reiterated her regret in a message below on Jewish News article online.

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LFI director Jennifer Gerber said earlier the comments do “nothing to advance peace and are deeply offensive to the memory of the Holocaust and wilfully ignorant of the actual situation between Israelis and Palestinians.

“While the conflict in the Middle East understandably stirs emotions, it is worrying to see politicians making offensive and inappropriate comparisons”.

Jay Stoll, who is the Public Affairs Director of the London Jewish Forum, added: “For an elected representative to suggest Holocaust survivors are inflicting a similar experience upon the Palestinian people is both a gross distortion of reality and an affront to the memory and legacy of the Shoah.” He said the party should discipline the politician if she failed to apologise.

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