Yet another member of the UK Labour Party has stirred up controversy with a series of virulently anti-Israel comments accusing the Jewish state of a litany of atrocities and calling for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel.
After a week in which both former London mayor and Labour activist Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Naz Shah were suspended for anti-Semitic comments, the former mayor of Blackburn has come under fire for social media comments posted less than a year ago.
Salim Mulla, who currently serves as a Labour councilor for the city of Blackburn, made a series rabidly anti-Israel comments in the summer of 2015.
In June 2015, for instance, Mulla labelled Zionism “apartheid”, writing that “Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity.”
In July, Mulla posted a link to a Youtube video of an interview broadcast on Iranian television of conspiracy theorist Michael Harris. Mulla strongly endorsed Harris’ comments, which included allegations Israel was responsible for a series of mass shootings in the United States, including the massacre of school children by a mentally unstable young man in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Mulla wrote that that “He know [sic] what he is talking about. He is talking facts. Watch…Before its taken out… I Can’t believe it was (Aired)…!!!”
Mulla Facebook Facebook screenshot
In the video Mulla posted, Harris claimed a number of recent shootings by deranged individuals were in fact “revenge killings” by Israel against the US.
“This is something Israelis do very, very well,” Harris said. “Israel has been operating death squads in the US”.
In the video, Harris blames not only Israel but American Jews, claiming that they were working to disarm American citizens, enabling Israeli “death squads” to kill them more easily. “I want Israel off the face of the earth”, Harris concluded.
If Mulla’s views on Israel and Jews were not yet clear, he also posted in August of 2015 comments strikingly similar to those which led to the suspension of MP Naz Shah and Councilor Ilyas Aziz, who was suspended earlier today.
Showing the map of Israel superimposed over a map of the continental United States with the words “Solution for the Israel-Palestine Conflict”, Mulla lent his support for the idea.
“The world solution to the conflict in the middle east and how it would save billions of pounds for America. Very easy solution.”
In yet another comment, in August Mulla posted a meme suggesting that the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in France and kidnapping of Japanese hostages by ISIS were part of an Israeli conspiracy to punish the two countries for their support of Palestinian statehood. Mulla added a personal endorsement of the meme.
“Is this a coincidence. You bloody daam [sic] right it is. We all know Zionism game being played. It’s bloody obvious who is manipulating this. Those who are not sure. ISRAEL.”
The revelations of Mulla’s comments came just hours after another Labour councilor, Ilyas Aziz, was suspended for claiming Israelis “drink Gaza’s blood”, and calling for the ethnic cleansing of Israel’s Jews.
This is not the first time Mulla’s comments landed him in hot water. In 2006 he defended an accused sexual predator, also named Salim Mulla, claiming that he was “not a bad lad.” Mulla spoke on his behalf in court as a character witness, noting that the two had known each other for 35 years.
Critics decried Mulla’s support for the accused, who was later convicted of sexually assaulting girls as young as 12.
The UK Labour Party’s ongoing anti-Semitism row exploded on Monday with the suspension of three city councillors over offensive comments made on social media.
The latest party member to be suspended is Shah Hussain, a Labour Party councillor for the city of Burnley.
Hussain’s suspension came just hours after comments made to an Israeli soccer star in 2014 were publicized, inflaming an already massive scandal over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
The comments, which were part of a Twitter conversation, were directed to Israeli soccer player Yossi Benayoun. Benayoun had criticized former teammate Joey Barton for anti-Israeli statements the latter had made in the midst of the 2014 Gaza conflict.
Hussain then interjected, writing “Yossi, ur an idiot, looks like hartson didn’t kick u hard enough in the head, joey top man!! #FreePalestine.”
The Labour councillor went on to compare Israel to Hitler, claiming that Operation Protective Edge, which was intended to blunt Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel, was equivalent to the Nazi Holocaust.
“You are an [sic] complete and utter plonker, you and your country doing the same thing that hitler did to ur race in ww2.”
On Monday a spokesperson for the Labour Party told reporters that Hussain was suspended until an inquiry into his statements was completed.
The announcement came just hours after another city councillor, Salim Mulla, was suspended for a litany of rabidly anti-Israel comments posted during the summer of 2015.
Mulla, a councillor in Blackburn, wrote that “Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity,” and claimed that a number of mass shootings in the US by mentally unstable young men were in fact “revenge” attacks carried out by Israel.
Earlier on Monday the party announced the suspension of Ilyas Aziz, a councillor in Nottingham, following revelations Aziz had argued in favor of the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel. In a separate Facebook post, Aziz also suggested Israelis were “drinking Gaza blood.”
Last week two other Labour Party members were suspended for similar comments. Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who had called for the removal of Jews from Israel, was suspended by the party’s General Secretary despite objections from Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn.
Ken Livingstone, a party activist and former mayor of London, was also suspended after defending Shah and claiming that that Hitler “supported Zionism.”