Labour is facing fury for allowing an “anti-Semitic” candidate to run for parliament after he accused Israel of allowing its citizens to be massacred.
Azhar Ali, who is standing to be the MP for Rochdale, claimed the October 7 attack went ahead because the Israeli state wanted the “green light” to invade Gaza.
But Sir Keir Starmer’s party confirmed he will still be contesting the by-election later this month.
Tory chairman Richard Holden said: “Time after time, Sir Keir Starmer says that he’s changed Labour. Time after time we’re seeing that simply isn’t true.
“While vile racist slurs are freely exchanged within Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, it is unfit to hold public office.”
Mr Holden added: “Sir Keir Starmer should immediately remove Mr Ali’s Labour membership and suspend Labour’s campaign.
“If Labour won’t do that, the public will see that Labour is happy to run antisemitic candidates to attract racist votes and is therefore unfit to play a leading role in our nation’s affairs.”
Mr Ali is defending a 9,000 majority after he was chosen as Labour’s candidate for Rochdale when veteran MP Sir Tony Lloyd died from leukaemia last month.
He made the “warped” comments at a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party following the atrocity, claiming the Israeli government removed its border security to allow Hamas to attack.
In the recording obtained by the Mail on Sunday, he was heard telling the group: “The Egyptians are saying that they warned Israel ten days earlier… Americans warned them a day before [that] there’s something happening… They deliberately took the security off, they allowed… that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”
After someone suggested Sir Keir was “held in high regard”, Mr Ali replied: “Can I disagree with you… A lot of the MPs I’ve spoken to, non-Muslim MPs, feel that on this issue, he’s lost the confidence of the parliamentary party.”
Mr Ali issued a statement after the comments were made public.
He said: “I apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community for my comments which were deeply offensive, ignorant, and false.
“Hamas’s horrific terror attack was the responsibility of Hamas alone, and they are still holding hostages who must be released.
“7 October was the greatest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, and Jews in the UK and across the world are living in fear of rising antisemitism.
“I will urgently apologise to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments.
“The Labour Party has changed unrecognisably under Keir Starmer’s leadership, he has my full support in delivering the change Britain needs.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region said Mr Ali had a “long track record of interfaith work” but it had been “shocked and appalled” by his “warped thinking”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “These comments are disgraceful and unforgivable.
“Were it not too late to do so, we would have called on Labour to replace Mr Ali as a candidate. It is clear to us that Mr Ali is not apologising out of a genuine sense of remorse.
“Despite what he says in his apology, we do not see how we could possibly engage with him at this time and we believe other leading Jewish communal groups will feel similarly.”
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust wrote on social media: “Outrageous, highly offensive, mad and unacceptable.”
Labour’s election strategist Pat McFadden told Sky News the comments were “completely wrong” but said he would still remain Labour’s candidate.
“He’s issued a complete apology and retraction and I hope he learns a good lesson from it because he should never have said something like that in the first place,” he added.
