Labour MP Naz Shah has been suspended from the party following a series of social media posts in which she appeared to endorse the relocation of Israelis to the United States. The Bradford West MP faced an investigation after sharing a graphic on Facebook in 2014 depicting Israel's outline superimposed on a map of the US with the comment 'Problem solved.'
A Labour party spokesman confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn and Shah had 'mutually agreed' to her administrative suspension by the general secretary. She is barred from party activities and has had the whip removed pending an investigation by the compliance committee of the party's national executive committee.
The controversy escalated during Prime Minister's Questions, where David Cameron criticised Mr Corbyn for failing to address antisemitism within the Labour party. Mr Corbyn initially accepted Shah's apology before later agreeing to her suspension. Shah had previously apologised in the House of Commons, stating she 'profoundly' regretted causing upset to the Jewish community.
Shah resigned as a parliamentary assistant to shadow chancellor John McDonnell on Tuesday. In a statement, she denied that Labour had edited her apology, clarifying that she had written it herself. The Jewish News had published an apology attributed to Shah, but BuzzFeed's allegations of Labour editing were later retracted.
The incident has reignited concerns about antisemitism in the Labour party, with shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy warning of 'real problems' if standards are not applied uniformly. Former Labour Friends of Israel chair John Woodcock described the handling as 'a mess' and urged the leadership to acknowledge the scale of the issue.
