A Conservative candidate for upcoming UK municipal elections has been accused of “abhorrent” antisemitism by the Jewish Leadership Council.
Ishfaq Hussain, the candidate for Dogsthorpe in the May 6 elections, has been criticized for a series of anti-Semitic Facebook posts, including saying that Israeli Jews are not “true Jews” and accusing Israel of being part of a “Zionist trilogy” that “breed(s) terrorists” along with the United States and Saudi Arabia, reported the Peterborough Telegraph.
He also wrote that “Zionism is one of the worst afflictions on the world” and stated that Jerusalem should be turned into the capital of Palestine to “stop more bloodshed, genocide by the Zionists and to uphold basic human rights,” and “under Zionist rule... freedom of practising ones faith is under threat,” according to the Jewish News.
When asked to comment by the Peterborough Telegraph, Hussain issued an apology stating,
“I recognize Israel’s right to exist and wholeheartedly support a two-state solution. I deeply regret that my frustration at events in Israel and Palestine led me to suggest otherwise.”
He added that some of his past comments were “ill-judged and offensive.”
“My previous language… also echoed antisemitic tropes in ways I had not fully understood,” he said. “I apologize unreservedly for the hurt this will have caused.”
Hussain has reportedly been suspended by the Conservative party.
The Jewish Leadership Council, an umbrella group for UK Jewish community organizations, stated, “These posts are antisemitic and abhorrent. It is clearly too late to remove this candidate from the ballot but the Conservatives need to make it clear immediately that, should this candidate be elected, he will not hold the Conservative whip or form part of the administration should the Conservatives be successful."
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)