Jewish Labour members subjected to ‘Kapo’ insults over support for Starmer’s party
Abuse has increased after government announced partial UK arms export suspensions to Israel
Jewish Labour members, including elected officials, have been subjected to vile abuse accusing them of being “self-haters” and “kapos” as a result of their continued support for Keir Starmer’s party.
It is understood the vile insults have mainly emerged from anonymous accounts usually supportive of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
But Jewish News spoke to two Jewish Labour figures attending the party’s conference in Liverpool who said they had been abused in public by local members of the community angered by the government’s announcement of partial arms export licence suspensions.
One victim of the abuse said: “I’m used to insults flying around as I’ve been in politics for a long time.
“But what I cannot tolerate is being taunted with the slur ‘kapo’ and by someone I know to be from the community.”
Kapo is the term used Jewish inmates forced by the Nazis to serve as guards in the camps.
A second Jewish Labour activist said they had “switched off from social media for the rest of the week” after being targeted by pro-Netanyahu social media activists not operating under their own name.
“It was vile stuff that I’m too sick to talk about,” they said. “I’ve got a fairly good idea what sort of people are behind this though.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the government’s arms export suspensions at the start of the month.
The move followed announcements about UNRWA funding and a withdrawal of the government’s alleged opposition to the ICC application for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister.
Meanwhile a Labour election candidate has revealed was told that she was not a proper Muslim as a result of her support for Starmer’s party.
Heather Iqbal was defeated in Dewsbury and Batley by Iqbal Mohamed, but she accused his supporters of intimidation.
At the start of the campaign, she took her baby son out door knocking. “But I got shouted at about being a child killer,” she told The Telegraph.
Iqbal added: “Whether I was Muslim or not was constantly questioned, with constant criticism of my first name, including in open community meetings held by the independent MP.”
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