A doctor who publicly asked Manchester mayoral candidates to back the fight against racism has been found to have tweeted a string of antisemetic messages.
Dr Siema Iqbal spoke at the inaugural Assembly of Greater Manchester Citizens (GMC) which was held by community organising group Citizens UK on May 1. She asked the city’s three most prominent candidates for mayor, including the eventual victor Andy Burnham, for their plans to tackle racism. However, the Jewish Leadership Council has now drawn attention to Dr Iqbal’s own Twitter messages regarding Israel and Jews.
It has been revealed that during the summer of 2014, Dr Iqbal - who is said by Citizens UK, to have a “reputation for promoting inter-faith dialogue” locally - shared a message calling for the relocation of Israel to the United States, as a “solution” to the Gaza conflict.
She also retweeted a post accusing Israel of “shopping around for cheaper bombs” and a message which read: “When a people who survived a genocide use it as an excuse to commit genocide”, against backdrop of a Star of David splattered with blood. The first message was the same one which was shared by Labour MP Naz Shah, and for which Ms Shah has since apologised.
Dr Iqbal accused a Jewish Israel-advocacy group of pursuing a “vicious and vindictive campaign of misrepresentation and harassment” against her.
She also said she has made clear her retweets “are not endorsements”, and that she apologised soon after sending the tweets.
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| "The Jews are shopping around for cheaper bombs" |
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