- Starmer faces online backlash after lying about his comments on the siege in Gaza and essentially supporting the war crimes of Israel.
- South Wales Islamic Centre have been criticised for hosting Keir Starmer following these comments.
Keir Starmer has faced renewed criticism after he tweeted about his visit to a mosque in South Wales. During his visit to the South Wales Islamic Centre, he used the opportunity to reiterate the Labour Party’s call for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since the attack on southern Israel on October 7th. His tweet on X mentioned the release of hostages, increased humanitarian aid for Gaza, the restoration of water and power, and a renewed focus on the two-state solution.
Following the visit, the mosque issued a statement in which they conveyed their strong disapproval, emphasizing that Starmer’s comments were “completely wrong” and deeply offensive to the Muslim community.
“Facing him is better than avoiding him. We raised all our complaints, and we criticised him for what he said,” a spokesperson from the mosque said.
“It is best to face those whom we disagree with and show them the truth. What he mentioned recently is totally wrong and has offended us Muslims which is totally unacceptable.
“We asked him to put pressure on the government to allow humanitarian aid to enter the people of Gaza and to stop these massacres, which are happening in Gaza.”
The Mosque released the following statement on 24th October:
On Monday, Starmer posted that he had been “questioned by members” about his stance on Gaza during the visit to the mosque.
“I made clear it is not and has never been my view that Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines. International law must be followed,” he said.
Starmer’s fallacious comments during his mosque visit has triggered a social media backlash, particularly as his previous comments regarding the siege in Gaza are on the public record:
The Muslim Association of Britain said Starmer’s visit to the South Wales Mosque was a: “Rather embarrassing photo opp for the Labour Party.”
It also said: “Keir Starmer visited a mosque and called for hostages to be released. Are the hostages being held in a South Wales Mosque?”
On X, Frances Coppola said, “If you marched into a Jewish community demanding that Israel cease military actions in Gaza, you’d be rightly accused of antisemitism.”
