Diane Abbott has sparked controversy after referring to the “Jewish Defence Force” in a social media post about Palestinians in Gaza, prompting calls for Sir Keir Starmer to suspend the Labour veteran once again.
The 71-year-old MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who is Mother of the House of Commons, made the comment in a now-deleted post on Tuesday.
“Beyond horrific that the Jewish Defence Force is gunning down Palestinians as they queue for food #Gaza Genocide,” Abbott wrote on social media platform X.
The ex-Shadow Home Secretary had been responding to a quote from journalist Chris Hedges from 2001. Hedges had alleged that soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces “had enticed children like mice into a trap and murdered them for sport.
Abbott appeared to replace the word “Israel” with “Jewish” when referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF contains troops from numerous religious backgrounds, with Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze soldiers all serving in the Israeli military.
The incident has led to renewed calls for Labour to take disciplinary action against Abbott, who was previously suspended from the party in April 2023 after writing that Jews could not be subject to racism “all their lives.
Fiona Sharpe, a spokesperson for campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism told the JC it was “sad” to see “a groundbreaking MP – the first black woman to be elected – reduced to not knowing the difference between the Israel Defence Force and ‘Jewish Defence Forces’.
Diane Abbott chose to make a derogatory comment on a totally unsubstantiated allegation harking back to medieval libels about Jews. This should cause the leadership of the party to question her appropriateness as an MP, particularly as so many of her constituents are Jewish”, Sharpe added.
A Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesman asked: “How many strikes is this for Ms Abbott? Will the Labour Party finally expel her?
The Board of Deputies of British Jews also weighed in. “Coming so soon after the appalling scenes at Glastonbury at the weekend, there can be no excuse, and she should now lose the whip as a Labour MP”, a spokesman said.
The reference to Glastonbury relates to Saturday’s festival performance where rap-punk duo Bob Vylan led crowds in chants calling for “death” to the Israeli military. “Death, death to the IDF,” the performer shouted, leading tens of thousands in the chant.
The BBC, which broadcast the performance live, later said it “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the Glastonbury chants, saying there was no excuse for such “appalling hate speech” and that the BBC must explain “how these scenes came to be broadcast.
Abbott’s latest controversy comes amid broader tensions within Labour over the Israel-Gaza conflict. She recently joined a 49-strong Labour rebellion against the Prime Minister’s proposed cuts to Britain’s benefits bill.
Almost 70 MPs and peers have also called on Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to help reunite Palestinians with family members in the UK “until it is safe to return.
Abbott’s previous suspension followed a letter to The Observer in which she claimed that while Jewish, Irish and Traveller people “undoubtedly experience prejudice,” they were not subject to racism “all their lives.
She cited the pre-civil rights American South, Apartheid South Africa and Transatlantic slavery to back up her point.
She later apologised “unreservedly” and withdrew her remarks. The errors arose in an initial draft being sent,” she said at the time.
Abbott, a close ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was required to complete a two-hour online antisemitism course before being reinstated as Labour’s candidate days before the 2024 General Election. She won her London seat with a majority of 15,080 votes.
Corbyn, who was suspended over claims about the prevalence of antisemitism in Labour being overstated, retained his Islington North seat as an independent candidate.
MP David Taylor told the JC: “This isn’t a slip of the tongue, it’s a slip of the mask. Language like this fans the flames of antisemitism and puts Jewish communities in the UK at risk.
A senior Labour source, who is Jewish, accused Abbott of undermining the government’s response to “the appalling scenes at Glastonbury and the BBC’s woeful coverage at the weekend.
“Of course you can trust Diane to put her foot in it”, they said.
Responding to Abbott’s “Jewish Defence Force” post, a Labour Party spokesman said: “All complaints are taken seriously and assessed in line with the Labour Party’s rules and procedures.
The controversy highlights ongoing tensions within Labour over antisemitism and the party’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, issues that have plagued the party since Corbyn’s leadership.
Image credit:
Diane Abbott, 2016 Labour Party Conference. Photo by Rwendland, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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