British candidate suspended over Miliband Jew comment
A British council candidate has been suspended following criticisms for referring to the Labour chief as a Jew.
Conservative candidate Gulzabeen Afsar, who is standing for the council in the Littleover Ward in Derby, posted on social media that she could never support Ed Miliband, who she referred to as “al yahud” – the Arabic word for Jew.
When another user replied that she should respect Miliband as a potential future prime minister, Afsar replied: “Nah bro! Never ever will I drop that low and support the al yahud lol.”
Her comments were attacked by other parties, RT reported.
“With anti-Semitism on the rise across Europe, it is abhorrent and terrifying that a prospective Conservative politician would say something like this,” a spokesperson for Derby Labour Party said.
“Derby Conservatives should launch an immediate investigation into this incident and take the appropriate action. Derby must be free from prejudice, especially from those seeking elected office.”
Now William Spring, political commentator in London, says: “It is comical really, the length to which British party officials go to avoid mentioning what’s obvious.”
“It seems that any form of descriptive terminology to someone’s antecedence or ethnic origin is unacceptable to certain sections of opinion in Britain. This explains why the established legacy parties are doing so badly, the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and so on.”
“People are fed up of continued obfuscation of truth about any particular issue,” he told Press TV’s UK Desk on Monday.
Following the latest episode, a Conservative spokesman said: “This comment was offensive and wrong. There is no place in our party for these comments or attitudes and Ms Afsal has had her party membership suspended pending a full disciplinary hearing.”
The party later added that Afsal had removed the post and had apologized.
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