Suspended Labour councilor defends comparing Israel to Hitler

A UK Labour councilor, suspended over a tweet comparing the Israeli regime to Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler, says he has been targeted because he is a Muslim.

Burnley Councilor Shah Hussain told the BBC’s Daily Politics program on Tuesday that there had been a “witch hunt” against him.

“What I was merely stating is that, what the regime of Israel is doing within Gaza can be made comparable to what happened to the European Jews in World War Two,” he said.

The Labour Party suspended three councilors Monday over social media posts about Israel.

Salim Mulla from Blackburn and Ilyas Aziz from Nottingham were the two other councilors who were suspended pending investigations following allegations of “anti-Semitism.”

The pair had suggested that Israel should be relocated to the United States, echoing similar comments posted by Naz Shah, a Labour MP who was suspended last week by the party.

Hussain reportedly intervened in a Twitter spat in 2014 between English and Israeli footballers Joey Barton and Yossi Benayoun over the Israel’s war on Gaza.

In a message directed at Benayoun, he wrote: “You are an (sic) complete and utter plonker, you and your country doing the same thing that hitler did to ur race in ww2".

Hussain defended his comments and vowed to fight the suspension.

ME