Redbridge councillor exposed over pro-Hezbollah and racist social media posts
Clayhall ward councillor Kabir Mahmud accuses black American politician Lloyd Austin of having "slavery in your soul"
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A Redbridge councillor has posted highly inflammatory messages on social media, including a call for terror group Hezbollah to get “more powerful rockets to do maximum damage to the Zionist” along with an apparent racist jibe at a black US politician accused of having “slavery in your soul”.
Kabir Mahmud was elected to represent the London borough’s Clayhall ward for Labour in 2022, but faced an investigation into his conduct that same year and now sits as an independent on the council.
He has also previously supported intimidatory protests by local pro-Palestine campaigners outside the offices of the MP and Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Jewish News was alerted to a series of, expletive ridden, inflammatory, and often poorly written posts by Mahmud, including one that appeared to be a demand for Hezbollah to launch even heavier deadly attacks on Israel.
In a November 2 post the councillor wrote: “No you Hezbollah f***ers, what is the fuck you are waiting for. Mother f***ers killed nearly 3 thousand Lebanese.
“Stop this nonsense bullshit. Do what is Zionists (sic) are doing to your people and country. Can’t you get more powerful rockets to do maximum damages to the Zionist (sic).”
One week earlier, in response to a post by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin’s confirmation that he had discussed Israel’s strikes on Iran with minister Yoav Gallant, Mahmud appeared to resort to a racist slur against the black American politician.
The Redbridge councillor wrote of Austin on October 26th: “Slavery in your soul. F*** off you hypocrite.”
In a reference to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cllr Mahmud posted:”You are a Zionist c*** and people can see what you’ve been doing in the past 13 months. Not a long to go (sic) and for you to disappear.”
On November 5, in a further attack on Blinken, Mahmud wrote:”Look at this C***, honorable Zionist murderer.”
Asked to comment on his posts, Mahmud told Jewish News:”I do not want to speak with a journalist.”
He then refused to answer a second phone call, and then proceeded to block Jewish News from reading his account on X.
Jewish News also sent a copy of Cllr Mahmud’s social media posts to Redbridge Council who confirmed receipt on Monday.
A Redbridge Council spokesperson later said, “We recognise the level of concern about the nature of the content posted. We are following up on this as a matter of urgency with the councillor concerned.”
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