UK – MP Quits Parliament Role After Proposing Israel ‘Relocate to the U.S.’

HAARETZ – British MP Naz Shah resigned as secretary to the Labour Party’s shadow finance minister after an uproar over a social media post in which she said Israel should “relocate to the U.S.,” British media reported on Tuesday.

Shah had also posted an article likening Zionism to Al-Qaida.
The posts were shared almost a year ahead of her May 2015 election to the British parliament, but rose to the agenda on Tuesday after being published on the Guido Fawkes web site, which is run by a right-wing political blogger.

Shah apologized for the posts saying: “I deeply regret the hurt I have caused.”
“I made these posts at the height of the Gaza conflict in 2014, when emotions were running high around the Middle East conflict. But that is no excuse for the offense I have given, for which I unreservedly apologise.

“In recognition of that offense I have stepped down from my role as PPS to the shadow chancellor John McDonnell. I will be seeking to expand my existing engagement and dialogue with Jewish community organisations, and will be stepping up my efforts to combat all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism.”

Shah is a member of a House of Commons committee that is conducting an inquiry into the rise of anti-Semitism. She’s also the latest of a list of Labour lawmakers accused of making anti-Semitic or anti-Israel slurs in the past few months.

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism called for her removal from that panel as well. Spokesman Jonathan Sacerdoti said it would be hard for his organization to take the parliamentary committee’s inquiry seriously if Shah remained a part of it.