Ken Livingstone: 'Suspended Labour MP Naz Shah's Facebook posts are not anti-Semitic'

Controversy: Ken Livingstone
EPA/ANDY RAIN
Mark Chandler27 April 2016
WEST END FINAL

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Ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone has defended controversial social media posts by suspended MP Naz Shah, saying they were merely "over the top" and not anti-Semitic.

Ms Shah was suspended today over a 2014 Facebook post where she shared a graphic of Israel's outline superimposed onto a map of the US under the headline "Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict - Relocate Israel into United States", with the comment: "Problem solved".

The Guido Fawkes website - which published the post - also pointed to another made before Ms Shah was an MP, which used the hashtag "IsraelApartheid" above a quote saying "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal".

After growing pressure and an apology from Ms Shah, Labour announced that leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Bradford West MP had "mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended" from the party.

But Mr Livingstone, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, said today the remarks were not anti-Semitic and the suspension was unnecessary.

He told LBC Radio: "What we have at the moment is a lot of people making a big issue about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. In 47 years I have never heard anyone say anything anti-Semitic.

"We expelled a couple of people from the Labour Party early on for saying things that could clearly be interpreted as anti-Semitic."

Mr Livingstone, who once sparked a storm himself by likening a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard, added: "This is not that.

"This is an over-the-top comment about the horrendous conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

Afterwards, Labour MPJohn Woodcock tweeted his shock at the comments. He wrote: "Listening to Ken Livingstone on LBC who won't go further than saying Naz Shah's comments were "over the top". Hard to believe."

Conservative candidate for London mayor Zac Goldsmith also commented on the row, saying Ms Shah's comments reflected a wider problem within Labour which was making the party "unelectable".

Mr Goldsmith told the Press Association: "A lot of people say silly things and regret it, a lot of people make mistakes - but these comments are not accidental, they are about as offensive as it is possible to be to the Jewish community.

"These are words that are deliberately designed to bring back memories of the Holocaust, which is completely unforgivable in my opinion.

"This is not just about her. There is a problem in the Labour Party with anti-Semitism, and the Labour Party - if it wants to be treated as a respectable and serious party - has got to deal with that problem, and I don't believe it is.

"The Labour Party as a whole needs to get to grips with this issue. This is a once-great party and in my view it renders it unelectable."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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