(JTA) — A British Labour Party candidate for Parliament said in 2015 that she would “celebrate” the deaths of several politicians, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Zarah Sultana, a Labour staffer who is running to represent the Coventry South district, made the comment on Twitter four years ago, The Jewish Chronicle reported Monday. The Chronicle published a screenshot of the tweet, which since appears to have been deleted.
“‘Don’t ‘celebrate’ the death of any person regardless of what they did.’ Try & stop me when the likes of Blair, Netanyahu & Bush die,” Sultana wrote, according to the Chronicle.
The candidate is a supporter of the boycott movement against Israel and has been critical of the Jewish state on social media, including implying she supports “violent resistance” by Palestinians, the Chronicle reported.
The Labour Party is facing accusations of anti-Semitism involving its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has come under scrutiny for his alleged failure to stop the hate speech and for past actions in which he appeared to ignore, condone or encourage it.
Following Corbyn’s takeover of the party, hate speech against Jews and Israel began proliferating in Labour’s ranks. Thousands of incidents have been recorded both by internal Labour groups like Labour Against Anti-Semitism, and external ones, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The party is facing off against the Conservative Party in the country’s general election in December.
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