Call for Labour to suspend Clive Lewis over X post

An antisemitism group has called for the Labour MP, Clive Lewis, to be suspended from his party.

It follows a post Mr Lewis wrote on X, in which he claimed a link between attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and what he called “rising Islamophobia” in the UK.

The co-director of the Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) group has described the comment as "incendiary" and "inflammatory".

Mr Lewis declined to comment.

A Labour spokesperson said: “All complaints are treated seriously and thoroughly assessed in line with our rules and procedures.”

In the post on Saturday, Mr Lewis, who is the MP for Norwich South, shared a link to a report in the Guardian newspaper.

The article said dozens of people had been reported dead following an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza.

Alongside the link, Mr Lewis wrote: “The link between the daily inhumanity being (sic) metted out to Palestinians and rising Islamophobia in the UK, are not unconnected.

“The inhumanity being shown to one is giving ‘permission’ for the other. These actions diminish us all.”

Alex Hearn is the co-director of LAAS, which was started by Labour members to combat what they saw as the rise of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Labour Party.

He said he had written to the Labour Party, calling for Mr Lewis to be suspended.

“I put in the complaint because we have been seeing a pattern from the far right and across elements of the left that have been blaming Zionists and Israelis for the unrest that has been going on across the country,” he said.

“The conflict going on thousands of miles away has no connection to the domestic cases that we have.

“In my opinion this is conspiracy fantasy. It’s extremely irresponsible that a Labour official should be pouring fuel on the fire in this way.”

Mr Lewis’s comment came after the arrests of hundreds of people in connection with riots and anti-immigration protests across the UK.

The unrest followed the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport, Merseyside, on 29 July.

Mr Hearn said: “I think his [Mr Lewis’s] comments are dangerous because it’s a fantasy that blames racism against Muslims on Jews thousands of miles away in a different country.

“When communities are attacking each other it’s awful. What our officials should be doing is calming things down.

Mr Lewis took part in an anti-racism protest in Norwich on Saturday, in which up to 400 people gathered in the city centre.

The demonstration was organised as part of a national day of protest by Norwich Stand Up to Racism and Protest with Pride

Mr Lewis addressed the crowd, three days after attending another counter-protest near a hotel housing asylum seekers on the outskirts of Norwich.

A spokesperson for the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, was questioned by the BBC about Mr Lewis's comments.

They said it was "explicitly clear that violence has no place in UK society".

When asked if Mr Lewis's comments were antisemitic, they said it was not their role to get into individual discipline.

They added: "The UK’s position is that we must have more aid into Gaza."

It is understood the Labour Party is taking no further action in this case.

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