UK’s main opposition party withdraws support for its candidate after comments on Israel

LONDON (AA) – The Labour Party has withdrawn its support for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali over his comments on the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The party will no longer campaign for Ali after the Mail on Sunday published his comments, claiming Israel had “allowed” the Hamas attack on October 7.

Later, the Daily Mail published a second recording late Monday, according to which Ali blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of Andy McDonald from the Labour Party.

Ali had apologized after Sunday’s recording was leaked, in which he said: “They deliberately took the security off, they allowed … that massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”

As the deadline to replace the candidate passed on February 2, Ali will still stand as a Labour Party candidate on the ballot paper. However, he will not hold the party whip and will sit as an independent MP, if elected.

Campaigners in Rochdale were told to stop leafleting and social media activity on Ali’s behalf at 5.30 pm on Monday, an instruction that came from party HQ, according to the Guardian, citing Labour sources.

Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator Pat McFadden said Ali was suspended after new information and more comments have come to light.

Party leader Keir Starmer has taken the “tough but necessary decision” to withdraw support for the Rochdale by-election candidate, he added.

The UK has been a staunch supporter and ally of Israel throughout its genocidal assault on Gaza. It has stopped short of calling for a cease-fire for humanitarian purposes.

Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on October 7, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling this January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.