30th January, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
A Labour Party member and British-Nigerian Minister, Kate Osamor, has been suspended from office after she critiicised Isreal for its endless bombardment of Gaza.
Osamor had accused Israel of genocide, causing a suspension while investigations have been instituted into the matter.
Osamor is the MP for Edmonton. She had shared a photograph of herself at a Holocaust Educational Trust event.
She wrote, “Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza.”
She later tweeted an apology “for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that period of remembrance”.
Holocaust Memorial Day is a day to remember the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and the genocides that have occurred since.
I apologise for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that period of remembrance.
— Kate Osamor Labour & Co-op MP for Edmonton (@KateOsamor) January 26, 2024
Meanwhile, the Holocaust Educational Trust described her remarks as a “painful insult to survivors of the Holocaust”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews called her comment “disgraceful”, while the Jewish Leadership Council accused her of abusing HMD to attack the Jewish state.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it was not acceptable to equate the Holocaust to the situation in Gaza.