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23-11-2023
LONDON: British-Pakistani Conservative Councilor Jamal Chohan has quit the party over its stance on Israel’s war on Palestine and the killings of over 13,000 Palestinians.
Chohan, a lawyer, was threatened with suspension by the Conservative Party for signing an open letter for councilors across England and Wales calling for a ceasefire.
He didn’t send the letter that he co-authored with independent Councilor James Giles from the Kingston Council but the party asked him to apologize or face suspension.
Giles emailed all 19,102 councilors in England and Wales on Sunday, asking them to sign a public letter calling for a Gaza ceasefire. He had threatened to publish the names of anyone opposed to a ceasefire in Gaza and the Green Party and others have already done so. The letter stated that anti-Semitism had been “weaponized” to silence those who opposed Israel’s actions in the wake of the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas and anyone who criticized the state of Israel was called an “anti-Semite”.
The original letter by a group of elected representatives has called on PM Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer to “call for an immediate ceasefire and that you focus your efforts towards driving lasting peace in the region through meaningful impartial mediation for a two-state solution”.
It said: “To be clear and stating the obvious, antisemitism is wholly unacceptable. However, this term cannot continue to be weaponized to absolve Israel of any accountability for how it has contributed to the ongoing tensions and its failure to comply with international law. Several respected international organizations including the 
International Criminal Court, United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are concerned that these events are amounting to war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
Following the above original letter, the Conservative party threatened Chohan with suspension and asked him to apologize which he refused.
In his resignation letter, Councilor Chohan labelled the party as a “sinking ship” trying to “silence advocates for peace”.
“I cannot continue to associate with this type of politics and find that far too often I am having to apologize for representing the Conservative party,” wrote Chohan.
Councilor Chohan said he felt that he was scared to speak out on the issue and that his views were met with disregard by party colleagues.
Both the Conservative and the Labour parties have shown unwavering support for Israel and refused to call for a ceasefire. Those calling for a ceasefire have either been suspended or isolated and several Labour front benchers and dozens of councilors have resigned on the issue. (Int’l News Desk)
