• Rushanara Ali for Bethnal Green and Bow walks away from Gaza ceasefire question while her security tries to get physical with the man.
• Shabana Mahmood for Birmingham Ladywood loses control of her campaign event as a Muslim woman is almost ejected for asking about Gaza.
Members of the public attempted to question two former MPs now Labour candidates, who held some of the largest margins for a seat in Bethnal Green and Bow and Birmingham Ladywood, only to be shunned away when they wanted to ask about Gaza.
Rushanara Ali held a majority of almost 38,000 votes for Bethnal Green and Bow where the Muslim population is just over 41,000, whilst Shabana Mahmood’s seat had a majority of 29,000 for Birmingham Ladywood with a Muslim population close to 50,000. It would take extraordinary circumstances for the kind of majority they held to swing in another candidate’s favour. Coincidentally though, this year has seen an unprecedented amount of MP seats swing in most by-elections that have been held already.
The disgruntlement of their constituents speaks volumes when new independent candidates are being chosen and backed over them, as they are forced to campaign almost alone with very little support, possibly with an ill-informed foresight that a win is theirs for the taking.
Recently a constituent filmed himself approaching Rushanara Ali to ask a question, who appeared to be campaigning in front of a school.
The man filming the candidate spent much of his time trying to get her attention but was blatantly ignored. Two men claiming to be her security then arrive and attempt to stand between them. Things become heated when the man calls out the security for trying to get physical with him.
The group comprising Rushanara Ali, two security men and one other decided it was time to leave. Other members of the public intervene near the end of the clip and begin throwing questions and remarks at the former MP where one can be heard saying:
“Why didn’t you ask for a ceasefire?”
Not a single response came from the candidate who claimed to have actively spoken up for Palestine for the past 14 years – as per her election video. Throughout the clip, Rushanara Ali looked determined to get away while remaining silent, avoiding questions on the way.
It should be noted that Rushanara Ali and Shabana Mahmood are meant to be supporters of the Labour Friends of Palestine. However, they regularly failed to represent their constituents in Parliament on the very issues surrounding Palestine – when it mattered most.
They voted in Parliament identically to the previously reported Labour candidates for Hampstead and Highgate and Leicester South – Tulip Siddiq and Jon Ashworth, where they too abstained from voting for a ceasefire back in November, when their constituents began to revolt against their abstention.
Their names also do 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’.
It should also be said that both came out 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 publicly-backed Scottish National Party amendment.
Knowing all this Shabana Mahmood held an event to engage with her community, so presumably would have been prepared to answer questions on Palestine, especially as she too like Rushanara Ali had claimed that she has stood for Palestine for the past 14 years.
The event seemed to be for women only judging by the audience sitting around the stage where Mahmood was. The clip goes straight to a Muslim woman asking the question “What about Gaza?”
Unfortunately, Mahmood didn’t get to respond and lost control, because a man being identified and assumed as her father stood at the corner of the stage and interrupted saying “You’ve been sent as a mouthpiece, so go and argue with your candidate!” in an attempt to eject the Muslim woman before walking away.
The man’s disturbing reaction had mostly caught the woman off guard and somewhat shocked, as was the case from the surprised reaction of the other women at the event. More importantly, there appeared to be no apology for the outburst from anyone, particularly Shabana.
Surprisingly, the event did continue despite the uncalled-for remarks. Another attendee at the event managed to ask the question of why Shabana abstained on voting for a ceasefire. The reply was not what anyone hoped for.
"I feel just as strongly about… Gaza as I'm sure everybody else in this room feels… I’m a Labour Member of Parliament, I voted for the Labour position because that was a comprehensive package…”
“…You failed us, failed those who are suffering. You had the power to change that. We put you in a position of power and you turned your back on, not only us, but you failed them too. In my eyes, you have blood on your hands.”
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way.”
These candidates are a shadow of who they once were and who we were hoping they could have become for our respective communities across the UK. We can see how these Labour candidates are protected and how they are being evasive, it is sad and difficult to understand why they became like this when they knew full well, that they just had to lend their support on behalf of us back in November.
Finding an alternative candidate to vote for will hopefully not be difficult. Be wary that many pro-Palestinian independent candidates are going under the radar, owing to mainstream media restricting time and access to them meaning they cannot get their message out.
Ensure you 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 can help people identify the candidates in their borough.
Irrespective of how much we trusted these Labour candidates lending them our vote in the past, we must decide who we can lend our vote to ‘now’ in the hope that they will stand for Palestine because for an MP to represent us that is the bare minimum we must expect of them.
