A British-Nigerian minister, MP Kate Osamor, has been suspended by the United Kingdom’s Labour Party after she accused Israel of genocide on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Osamor, however, has apologized for “any offence caused” over the message distributed to local party members on Friday.
The chief whip suspended her from the parliamentary party while an investigation was instituted into the matter, as Jewish groups have criticised the remarks.
Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) marks the six million Jews and other groups murdered during the Holocaust, alongside recent genocides.
Osamor, the MP for Edmonton had shared a photograph of herself at a Holocaust Educational Trust event.
She wrote: “Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza.”
She later tweeted an apology “for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that period of remembrance”.
Meanwhile, the Holocaust Educational Trust described her remarks as a “painful insult to survivors of the Holocaust”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews called her comment “disgraceful”, while the Jewish Leadership Council accused her of abusing HMD to attack the Jewish state.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it was not acceptable to equate the Holocaust to the situation in Gaza.
“What is happening in Gaza is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe that is recognised. But there are specific reasons why the Holocaust is considered as it is,” he said.
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