From the Telegraph:
Labour has removed an event run by a pro-Palestine group from its conference agenda after backlash from its own MPs.
When the party’s conference guide was published last week, it featured an event run by the group Friends of al-Aqsa and chaired by Ismail Patel, the group’s founder.
The group, which describes itself as an NGO “demanding political change for Palestine”, was described in a report commissioned by the Home Office and published in 2024 as a “far-Left and Islamist” organisation.
The report noted that Mr Patel had previously visited Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader, in Gaza. It said that in 2021 he had praised the killer of Eli Kay, a tour guide in Jerusalem, as a “martyr”.
It also highlighted that Mr Patel was filmed in 2009 saying “we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel”. At the same rally, he declared that “Hamas is no terrorist organisation”…
The Telegraph understands that Labour MPs first raised concerns about Friends of al-Aqsa’s event with Hollie Ridley, the party’s outgoing general secretary, on Wednesday. The listing was removed from the party’s conference agenda the following day.
One MP said: “The party immediately looked at it and pulled the listing. Fringe events are not organised by the Labour Party, but the issue here is that the party should not have publicised and drawn attention to an event that isn’t consistent with its values.”
Senior figures in the party were said to be reviewing its internal vetting processes to understand how staff had approved the request from Friends of al-Aqsa to promote its event in the conference guide.
Perhaps, given the Labour government’s recent statements – Miliband on the West Bank settlers for instance – and their evident determination to appease the Muslim/hard left contingent, the conference staff had assumed that this would be quite in line with party policies.
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