Former councillor exposed by JN for questioning extent of Hamas crimes now an MP

A former Liberal Democrat councillor, previously exposed by Jewish News for questioning the extent of crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, has been elected as an independent MP.

Ayoub Khan took the Birmingham Perry Bar seat at last week’s election after resigning from the Lib Dems in May after being ordered to undertake antisemitism training.

Backed by the influential The Muslim Vote organisation, Khan defeated the UK’s first ever Muslim MP Khalid Mahmood, who stood for Labour, winning by just under 500 votes.

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A statement on the Who Can I Vote For? website said: “Ayoub declared that he would stand as an independent following his reluctance to be silenced on the topic of Gaza by his former political party … Ayoub said that money wasted in foreign wars would have been better used in our country where we have a crisis. The cost of living, crime, antisocial behaviour, homelessness, unemployment and health services are all key priorities for him if elected.”

Last year Jewish News revealed how in a  series of Tik Tok videos, the then Birmingham councillor Khan, had  repeatedly suggested he “has a problem with the credibility” of accounts detailing the massacre carried out at by Hamas, included at a kibbutz in southern Israel.Lib Dem councillor denies he agreed to do antisemitism training over Hamas remarks

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In an October Tik Tok post he said:”So let me make my position absolutely clear. At no stage have I considered my material on TikTok offensive, nor have I agreed with anyone that I would undergo a training course in antisemitism. There is simply no need. It illustrates doesn’t it how the media can get it wrong.”

Khan, a barrister,  had previously been the Lib Dem’s candidate for the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner role.

Jewish News revealed on Friday how another newly elected MP who dedicated his victory to “the people of Gaza” is the brother of the founder of the hardline Islamist group Friends of Al Aqsa.

Shockat Adam was the surprise winner in Leicester South in Thursday’s general election, where he took the seat from former Labour shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth, one of Keir Starmer’s most trusted media performers.

Adam’s brother is Friends of Al Aqsa founder Ismail Patel, who has previously said he “saluted” Hamas for resisting Israel.New MP who said election win was ‘for Gaza’ is brother of Islamist group founder

Meanwhile, In Blackburn Adnan Hussain beat the Labout candidate by 132 votes.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed that at a Free Palestine rally in 2014 he gave a speech that claimed Israel’s military operation in the summer of that year was a “holocaust” and called for a boycott of companies that supported the country.

“They let Gaza burn, they hate Gaza. Now let’s make Israel burn, let’s make Israel burn,” he said.

Hussain told the paper he had been “speaking from a place of very high emotion triggered by what I very clearly state in the speech in question [is] a genocide”.