Labour cllr sorry for Facebook post about Jews being tipped off on 9/11

A Labour councillor who shared an anti-Semitic post on Facebook about ‘Israel’s ties to 9/11’ has issued a public apology, and referred himself for disciplinary probe.

Irfan Mohammed wrote letter to the Chief Whip of Lambeth Borough Council in which he says sorry for the social media post in 2015.

Three years ago he shared a video on Facebook page which claimed “Jews working in the World Trade Center received a text message before the incident: “Do not come to work in September 11”.

The post also spoke about “Israeli ties to the September 11 attacks…”.

Since being brought to public attention, Mr Mohammed, who is a member of the Lambeth Interfaith Forum, and who is a sits on the Council’s Equality Impact Assessment Panel took to Twitter saying sorry and recognise the damage caused.

He said: “I am writing to refer myself to you… to ask for a disciplinary investigation into a past action in 2015 which has been reported in the media.”

“I apologise unreservedly. I completely accept that I have hurt the Jewish community through my action..I have let down lots of people.”

Claiming he  posted it “without recognising that it contained anti-Semitic content”, he says it was a “stupid and thoughtless thing to do”, and that it was “anti-Semitic” and “totally unacceptable.”

Mr Mohammed says it brought the Party “into disrepute”, but that he’s “committed to working with all faiths, in particular with the Jewish community to learn and to tackle anti-Semitism in all its forms”,  and that he’ll be “writing to synagogues in Lambeth to personally apologise”.

A Labour Party spokesperson confirmed mr Mohammed’s post was being investigated, and added they takes “all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms. All complaints about antisemitism are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

The row came amid continuing controversy over Labour’s position on anti-Semitism, with the Jewish News reporting that Momentum founder Jon Lansman had been lobbying the party’s leadership for weeks to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition in full.

Last month, Labour’s NEC took the decision to adopt a modified version of the IHRA definition, leaving out four key examples of contemporary anti-Semitism.

This sparked anger in the community, with seven leading experts on anti-Semitism arguing this week, that any modification of the definition, means it is no longer the IHRA version.

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