• A Muslim woman confronts Labour’s Jon Ashworth over not calling for a ceasefire in November.
• The Leicester South candidate is also seen recording a political message with his phone using racial connotations.
A Muslim woman recently filmed Labour’s Jon Ashworth canvassing for Muslim votes, where she questioned the Leicester South candidate for failing to vote in November for a ceasefire.
In what was an emotional confrontation, the pain the sister felt from the suffering of Palestinian brothers and sisters could be heard, as she challenged the gall of Ashworth for going door-to-door asking for votes within the Muslim community and criticised him for not reacting when details of horrific Palestinian deaths began to surface such as beheaded babies.
She had been correct to call out Ashworth, as she rightly identified his abstention in a vote for a ceasefire and Ashworth’s failure to represent the anger felt by his constituents of Leicester South whilst MP back onNovember 15th.
Ashworth is quick to twist the question from the sister and say he voted for an “enduring cessation” when no such vote was being held in Parliament at the time.
This meant Hamas surrendering and giving control back to the Israelis so that there would be no more risk to Israeli lives however, the same safety and protection could not be assured for Palestinians.
A male voice then intercedes later in the video saying, “You’re a ridiculous father if you’ve got children and allowing this to happen”, with another male voice interjecting “You are part of the problem!”
At this point, Ashworth begins to lose control and reacts in a fit of anger repeatedly crying out that he was “not allowing it” to happen. The constituents had struck a nerve. Unaccepting of the truthfulness behind the accusation, Ashworth eventually walks away.
In a second video which materialised soon after, Jon Ashworth is heard being challenged by a male who whilst recording asks the questions, “Do you condemn Netanyahu?” and “Why didn’t you vote for a ceasefire in parliament?”
From the beginning of the video, Ashworth already seemed highly agitated and so rather than answer simple questions being asked of him, Ashworth proceeded to take out his phone to record what appeared to be a controversial political video with what can only be described as racially charged connotation designed to gaslight people.
“They don’t decide what happens in Leicester… If you want THESE people to win this election… the bullies and the loudmouths… you’ve got to get out and vote Labour…”
It is hard to understand who he could be recording this for, as it certainly did not appear to be for the benefit of the people around him, nor for the person asking Ashworth to condemn Netanyahu. Who in their right mind would ignore that and turn it into a video about being harassed?
Ashworth did not represent his constituents in Parliament on several other occasions. He voted in Parliament in the same way as the Labour candidate for Hampstead and Highgate – Tulip Siddiq when she was MP, except where Ashworth claims to be a ‘supporter’ of the Labour Friends of Palestine, where alarmingly Siddiq is not.
His name also does not appear in either of the letters drawn up by Zara Sultana and Richard Burgon calling for ‘suspending arms sales to Israel’ or for the UK Government to ‘uphold ICC warrants against Israeli war criminals’.
Ashworth’s name does come up in support of Labour’s amendment to the ceasefire vote back in February, where Keir Starmer and Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle turned the vote into a farce, by forcing the Labour amendment ahead of the widely publicly-backed Scottish National Party amendment.
Like many other Labour candidates, Jon Ashworth had been getting too comfortable within his constituency thinking that his seat and majority were secure. Failing to back the original call for a ceasefire in November would have been the red line that many of his constituents did not think he would cross, causing many like the sister in the first video to question why she voted for him in the first place. There are other alternative and independent candidates to choose from, who will most likely care more for the views and opinions of the people of Leicester South.
This is everybody’s chance to step back and think about who to vote for. Many pro-Palestinian independent candidates are going under the radar, owing to the lack of time and access being given by mainstream media to get their message out.
Visit the website of your borough’s council and identify the candidates running. You can also visit Pro-Palestinian sites like The Muslim Vote which helps people identify candidates in their borough. We must tear away from the traditional norms of where we and our families have given our votes in the past because the future of our suffering brothers, sisters and their children is at stake.
