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UK Labour party suspends senior lawmaker Diane Abbott over comment about Jews and racism
(JTA) — Britain’s Labour Party suspended senior lawmaker Diane Abbott for writing in a letter that Jews, Irish and Traveller people “experience prejudice” but “are not all their lives subject to racism.”
Abbott, 69, who has represented a London constituency in parliament since 1987, wrote a letter to the editor of the Observer, a Sunday newspaper owned by the Guardian, in response to an article by Tomiwa Owolade titled “Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated.” The article focused on a study about rates of racism in the United Kingdom.
“It is true that many types of white people with points of difference” experience prejudice, Abbott wrote in her letter. “But they are not all their lives subject to racism. In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote.” Travellers are an Irish ethnic people not related to the Romani ethnic group, with whom they are sometimes incorrectly grouped together with.
Abbott later apologized “for any anguish caused.”
“I wish to wholly and unreservedly withdraw my remarks and disassociate myself from them,” she wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. “Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others.”
After years under a cloud of antisemitism controversy under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has in recent years under new leader Keir Starmer swiftly penalized party members who have made antisemitic or controversial statements about Jews or Israel.
In February, a public watchdog ended its over two years of special monitoring of the party. The Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled that Labour had taken sufficient steps to root out the antisemitism problem that the watchdog said Corbyn allowed to persist under his leadership.
After over a decade of Conservative rule, polls show that Labour is poised to win the United Kingdom’s next general election, which could take place next year.
Owolade criticized Abbott, who was the first Black woman to be elected to British parliament, in an article in the New Statesman on Sunday.
“[S]he is plainly wrong even on her own terms. Jewish people and Irish people have most certainly been discriminated against in America: in the early 20th century, for example, many US Ivy League universities placed quotas that restricted the number of Jewish students they could admit,” he wrote.
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The post UK Labour party suspends senior lawmaker Diane Abbott over comment about Jews and racism appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Indonesia’s Biggest Islamic Group Asks Chief to Resign Over Invitation to Pro-Israeli Speaker
Then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary general of the 60-million member Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, at his office in Jerusalem. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.
Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chief to resign for inviting a US scholar known for his support of Israel during the Gaza war to an internal event in August, according to meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters.
The leadership of NU, which is also the world’s biggest Islamic organization with around 100 million members and affiliates, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or be removed from his post, according to the minutes from a meeting on Thursday.
NU cited Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an International Zionism network” for an internal event and alleged financial mismanagement as reasons for his ouster.
Staquf, who has been NU’s chairman since 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NU official Najib Azca told Reuters the decision was linked to Staquf’s invitation to former US official and scholar Peter Berkowitz for an August training event.
Staquf has apologized for the invitation and called it an oversight as he had not carefully checked Berkowitz’s background, adding that he condemned Israel‘s “brutal genocidal acts in Gaza.”
Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel‘s campaign in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute allegations of genocide against Israel.
Berkowitz spoke at NU seminars about the history of Western political thought in August, his website showed.
Berkowitz did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment that reached him outside of office hours.
Indonesia, the world’s Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since the war broke out in 2023. It has long advocated for a two-state solution and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
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Protesters at Tel Aviv Rally Call for State Inquiry into Oct. 7 Failings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl. In Jerusalem on 16 October 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli protesters gathered on Saturday in Tel Aviv, to demand the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoint a committee to initiate a state inquiry on the security failings of October 7.
Saturday night rallies in Tel Aviv have been a fixture of the two-year-long war in Gaza that was triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, that saw the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Protesters charged that Netanyahu refuses to be held accountable for his share of responsibility in Israel’s blackest day. They likewise took exception to Netanyahu’s wish to select the members of the committee, arguing this represented subversion of the democratic process.
Protesters also demanded the return of remains of the three deceased hostages still remaining in Gaza: Ran Gvili, Dror or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.
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Ukraine ‘Ready to Discuss’ Trump Admin’s Plan to End War, as US Official Says Plan Not Up for Negotiation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Kyiv will engage with Washington’s 28-point plan to end the war with Russia and demonstrate it is open to substantive discussions, a senior Ukrainian official said on Saturday, even as an official from the US administration of President Donald Trump indicated that the plan was not up for negotiation.
“In the coming days in Switzerland we are launching consultations between senior officials of Ukraine and the United States on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement,” Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, wrote on his official Facebook account.
“Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This is another stage of the dialogue that has been ongoing in recent days and is primarily aimed at aligning our vision for the next steps,” he further added. “We value the involvement of the American side and its readiness for a substantive discussion. Ukraine will continue to act responsibly, professionally, and consistently — as required by our national security.”
This comes after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Friday that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom — or Washington’s backing — over a US peace plan that endorses key Russian demands.
Washington’s 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept restrictions on its military and renounce its bid to join NATO.
Meanwhile, Financial Times reported on Saturday that US army secretary Daniel Driscoll communicated in no uncertain terms to Ukrainian and European officials there was no room to negotiate on its plan and Washington would show little flexibility.
“We are not negotiating details,” he was quoted as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has previously refused to budge on Russia’s demands, said on Friday the US plan could be the basis of a final resolution to the nearly four-year-old conflict. He said Kyiv was against the plan but neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.