A Labour Party office at the centre of controversy over the selection of candidates for the General Election has been vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti.
The incident comes several days after academic Faiza Shaheen was barred from running as a candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green over her activity on social media.
Black spray paint covered the windows of the office in north-east London with the words ‘Israel Lobby Out. Work 4 Us. UK MPs Work For UK. Not Israel’.
The graffitti was first noticed by passers-by on Saturday morning, and images have been shared on X of people working to remove the writing by the afternoon.
Horrible attack on Labourâs Chingford & Woodford Green office, which was graffitied overnight.
âIsrael lobbyâ among the words scrawled across the windows.
Met Police is investigating pic.twitter.com/apGAA4utJ3— Rachael Burford (@RachaelBurford) June 1, 2024
Earlier this week, Labour blocked economist Faiza Shaheen from running in the constituency reportedly due to a selection of tweets she had liked over the last ten years.
The tweets included one with a link to a video from American comedian Jon Stewart about Israel, and another accusing Labour of being ‘institutionally Islamophobic’, the Times reported.
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Shaheen said a Labour source had briefed the newspaper before she was informed, and had only discovered what had happened while she was out campaigning.
She announced she would challenge the decision in court, and has accused the party of having a ‘palpable problem with black and brown people’.
Shama Tatler has been announced as Labour’s candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green.
Speaking about the graffiti, she said: ‘This shameful vandalism is not just an attack on our campaign – it’s an attack on our whole community.
‘Together, we will defeat the forces of hatred and antisemitism and take our positive message of change to residents here in Chingford and Woodford Green.’
The incident was reported to the Met Police and Metro understands that an investigation is underway.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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