Culture Secretary accuses pro-Gaza MP of ‘aligning himself with antisemites’
Independent MP Ayoub Khan had attempted to downplay chantings of Death To The IDF at Glastonbury
A Labour minister has accused the pro-Gaza MP Ayoub Khan of “doing nothing for the Palestinian cause by aligning himself with antisemites.”
In a fiery Commons exchange, Lisa Nandy took issue with Birmingham Perry Barr MPafter he responded to condemnation of the chants at Glastonbury by raising reports of Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans chanting anti-Arab slogans during violence last season at a football match in the Netherlands.
Khan provoked widespread groans in the Chamber as he responded to the government’s condemnation of Glastonbury performer Bobby Vylon’s “Death To The IDF” chants by asking why there was no ministerial statement when Israeli football fans chanted “Death To Arabs.”
Responding, Nandy explained that while any MP would condemn anti-Arab chanting, she had delivered a statement on Glastonbury in the Commons “because our national broadcaster, funded by the license fee, paid for by the British public, has broadcast something that is deeply offensive to a community in this country.”
Nandy then added of Khan:”Can I just say to him that, as a long standing supporter of justice for the Palestinians, he does nothing for the Palestinian cause by aligning himself with anti semites.”
Khan later attempted to raise concerns about Nandy’s comments about him doing the Palestinian cause no favours by aligning himself with anti semites, as a Point of Order, in which he suggested the Culture Minister might want to apologise to him.
His demand was rejected by the Deputy Speaker.
Jewish News has repeatedly raised concerns about Khan, who had previously sat as a Lib Dem councillor in Birmingham. Former councillor exposed by JN for questioning extent of Hamas crimes now an MP
After 7 October 2023 he had disputed the severity of the Hamas massacre, and also refused to undertake antisemitism training.
VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS:
It’s always glorious when the veil lifts. That split second when a politician’s mask slips and their true face glares back.
Enter Ayoub Khan, the MP who in the House of Commons this week couldn’t bring himself to condemn chants of “Death to the IDF” at Glastonbury.
Khan had one job at that moment. Draw a moral line. He didn’t. Because for him, and many like him, antisemitism isn’t a deal breaker.
The pro-Gaza brigade in Parliament talk of human rights. But again and again and again, when Jewish lives are in the firing line, literally or figuratively, they fall silent, look away or do what Khan did. Expose themselves.
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