Anger after member of Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party ruling committee blamed ‘Israel foyer’ when faculty cancelled Jewish MP’s go to
A newly elected member of Your Party’s governing committee has been accused of promoting ‘dangerous antisemitic tropes’ after she suggested ‘the Israel lobby’ prompted an inspection of a school which cancelled a Jewish MP’s visit.
Solma Ahmed, 65, was elected to the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) last month in the same vote that saw Jeremy Corbyn become its de facto leader.
Ms Ahmed commented on X after Labour MP Damien Egan’s visit to Bristol Brunel Academy in September was postponed when the school found out about a planned pro-Palestine demonstration.
Responding to a report that Ofsted were set to inspect the school, the former Labour activist said in January: ‘The Israel lobby does not exist.’
This was followed by a clown face emoji.
Ms Ahmed also suggested the deaths of a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters in a suspected Palestinian gun attack were ‘sad’ but showed the ‘radicalisation of the Jewish community’.
Lucy Dee, 45, died days after her car was shot at by a suspected Palestinian gunman in an attack which killed her daughters Maia and Rina, 20 and 15, in April 2023.
Ms Ahmed was a civil servant in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government until 2016.
Solma Ahmed suggested the ‘Israel lobby’ prompted an Ofsted investigation into a school
Labour MP Damien Egan’s visit to Bristol Brunel Academy in September was postponed after the school learned of planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations
Ms Ahmed suggested on X that ‘the Israel lobby’ had prompted an Ofsted inspection of a school
Lucy Dee (left) died days after her car was shot at by a suspected Palestinian gunman in an April 2023 attack which killed her daughters Maia (right) and Rina
She was also previously an activist for Keir Starmer’s party but left in July 2022 because ‘as a Muslim I feel Labour no longer represents and supports my faith and principles’.
After an attempt to be selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate, she said ‘apparently you can’t win unless you’re part of LFI’, referring to Labour Friends of Israel.
A Jewish Labour source said it was ‘no wonder antisemitic conspiracy theorists have found a home in Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party’.
They added: ‘This is a reminder that whilst these extremists are thankfully no longer in the Labour Party, they have not disappeared from British politics.
‘There should be no place in any political party for antisemitism.’
A spokesperson for the Jewish Leadership Council said: ‘Continued conspiratorial references to an alleged ‘pro-Israel’ influence over British politics from a newly elected member of Your Party’s Central Executive Committee draw on some of the oldest and most dangerous antisemitic tropes.
‘These ideas have been used to vilify Jewish people throughout history and have no place in British politics.
Ms Ahmed suggested the Nobel Peace prize had become a ‘Zionists prize’
She also suggested Labour prospective parliamentary candidates were only selected if they were a ‘friend of Israel’ and had the support of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI)
‘Many British Jews will look at these developments with great concern, mindful of where such rhetoric can lead.’
Last year Ms Ahmed suggested the Nobel Peace Prize had become ‘the Zionists prize [sic]’ after it was awarded to Venezuela’s opposition leader in October.
Ms Ahmed said of Maria Corina Machado: ‘Did she not say Israel’s struggles are Venezuelan struggle [sic].’
Ms Machado has previously voiced support for Israel and pledged to move Venezuela’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem if her movement comes to power.
Ms Ahmed also said in 2024 of Bangladesh’s former autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina: ‘At least [she] doesn’t support genocide or friends of Israel.’
After 15 years as the country’s prime minister, Hasina fled that year to India after a brutal security crackdown in which the UN said as many as 1,400 protesters were killed.
Hasina was convicted and sentenced to death in absentia.
Last January Ms Ahmed said the Community Security Trust, which advises Jewish communities on safety, was ‘a stain on combatting real antisemitism and should be ashamed’.
It came after the Metropolitan Police agreed to redirect a pro-Palestinian protest following calls from 80 MPs and peers to move its route away from London’s Central Synagogue.
Ms Ahmed appeared to downplay the significance of reported Nazi salutes at a pro-Palestine march
Ms Ahmed was elected in the Your Party Central Executive Committee vote which saw former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) returned as de facto leader
Ms Ahmed had been part of the Grassroots Left slate of candidates led by former Labour MP Zarah Sultana (pictured)
After another X user said they had reported eight Nazi salutes during the march, Ms Ahmed replied: ‘Wow, 8 nazi salutes out of hundreds of thousands of marchers? Good god it’s truly horrifying!’
Ms Ahmed was elected as one of two CEC representatives for the East of England in Thursday’s election.
Mr Corbyn’s The Many slate won 14 of the 24 available seats on the committee, which meets for the first time on Tuesday, while Ms Sultana’s Grassroots Left won seven.
Your Party was contacted for comment.
