UK Labour suspends local candidate after liking Gaza genocide online post

The UK Labour Party has suspended a local election candidate and parliamentary staffer over a "liked" comment on LinkedIn, in what critics are calling part of a wider clampdown on pro-Palestine speech within British political institutions.

Jansev Jemal, a staffer for Labour MP Sam Carling and a candidate in May's local elections in Cambridgeshire, had her party membership reportedly suspended after The Telegraph highlighted her support for an online post critical of Israel's military assault on Gaza.

The comment, posted beneath a tribute to Czeslawa Kwoka - a Polish child murdered in Auschwitz - referenced historical oppression and urged action over what it described as an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Jemal did not author the comment, but allegedly "liked" it, prompting the Labour Party to launch an internal investigation.

"The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures," a party spokesperson said, according to the Telegraph.

Jemal has not commented publicly on the suspension.

The move has sparked concern among free speech advocates and Palestinian rights supporters, who say Labour, under Keir Starmer's leadership, has grown increasingly intolerant of criticism directed at Israel. 

Last year, the party dropped its candidate Azhar Ali during the Rochdale by-election after leaked remarks in which he reportedly suggested Israel had allowed the 7 October Hamas attacks as a pretext to invade Gaza.

Several campaigners, including Jewish and Palestinian voices, have argued that the boundaries of acceptable political speech are being dangerously narrowed. Free Speech on Israel and Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), among others, have repeatedly warned of the silencing of dissenting voices under the pretext of combating antisemitism - a charge critics say is being instrumentalised to protect Israel from accountability.

"Rather than criticism of Israel being equivalent to antisemitism, it is a  challenge to Jewish exceptionalism and to anti-Palestinian racism," the JVL has said.