Labour have got themselves into another fine mess with this situation.
I don't know whether Azhar Ali the Labour candidate is racist - but he has swallowed and repeated a conspiracy theory. It was a conspiracy theory with (as usual for conspiracy theories) some basis in fact. It is a fact that Israeli intelligence got hold of the Hamas attack plan (via Egypt) more than a year before 7 October 2023. It is a fact that elements of the Israeli government and military have been carrying out an escalating campaign of provocation against Palestinians - including all the actions on The Dome of the Rock, ramped up settler violence against people and property on the West Bank, IDF arrests of non-violent protestors and peace activists, language of the sort described as genocidal in the recent ICJ hearings.
It is probable that elements of the Israeli regime wanted to provoke a reaction from Hamas and other Palestinian organisations to justify further ethnic cleansing and moves towards a Greater Israel (from the river to the sea!).
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/w...elligence.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/01/m...ntl/index.html
But the Israeli intelligence services (wrongly) thought Hamas was incapable of carrying out its plan, and that if it made an attempt it would fail. They certainly didn't think Hamas would kill 1200 and kidnap another 240. Ali seems to have fallen for a twist on the reality that claimed the Israeli regime deliberately allowed those deaths and kidnappings for political gain. They wanted a reaction - they didn't anticipate a catastrophic reaction that threatened the regime (and still does - Netanyahu is trying to bomb himself to political safety).
And now we have Starmer backing Azhar Ali, and Louise Ellman (the Corbyn hating MP and anti-Semitism witchfinder in chief) who quit Labour then returned to be the poster girl of Starmer's Israel cheerleading purged party, defending Ali against claims of anti-Semitism.
In the background George Galloway has got Labour totally spooked - and seriously worried they will lose the bi election. It is a perfect storm of hypocrisy and incompetence from Starmer's Labour.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...o-win-rochdale