MPs urged to cut ties with activist who accused Israel of genocide in Gaza
Will Hazell
Sat, 4 November 2023
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei clashed with Tory MP Bob Stewart - JULIAN SIMMONDS
MPs working on democracy in the Gulf have been urged to sever ties with a body whose members have accused Israel of perpetrating “genocide” and compared it to Russia.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Democracy and Human Rights draws its secretariat from the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird) – a campaigning organisation co-founded by the activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei.
Mr Alwadaei was involved in a confrontation outside the Bahraini Embassy in December with the Conservative MP, Bob Stewart, which last week resulted in Mr Stewart being found guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence and fined £600 for telling Mr Alwadaei to “go back to Bahrain”.
Mr Stewart made the comment after the activist had shouted at him: “For how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”
Now Mr Alwadaei and another Bird member are facing criticism about comments they have made about Israel and its military operation in Gaza.
Last month, Mr Alwadaei published a post in Arabic on Twitter saying the “Zionist occupation” was presiding over a “human genocide”, revealing “the ugly face of colonial countries, Western hypocrisy, and its involvement in war crimes in Palestine”.
He claimed Gazans had been left with the option of succumbing to “genocide or ethnic cleansing”.
Mr Alwadaei also retweeted a cartoon posted by the Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff depicting an Israeli soldier washing blood off his hands from a tap painted in the American flag under a headline “white-washing war crimes”.
Mr Latuff has been accused by a number of Jewish organisations of using anti-Semitic imagery in his cartoons, something the cartoonist has denied.
ANTI ISRAEL ANTI ZIONISM IS NOT ANTISEMITISM
Mr Alwadaei has also previously described Israel as an “apartheid state” and protested against the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain.
Nicholas McGeehan, a member of Bird’s advisory group, meanwhile reposted a tweet on the day of the Hamas attack from the Egyptian activist Hossam Bahgat saying: “You cannot support freedom fighters in Ukraine as they resist Russian occupation but not in Palestine against Israeli occupation, unless you have no conscience. Watching Western government,media and pundits (and Arab Zionists) today.”
Subsequent tweets posted by Mr McGeehan have been critical of Hamas’s attack.
He also retweeted a post from the Palestinian activist Marwa Fatafta that claimed “Israel and Russia are two faces of the same coin”, and another from her saying that a picture of the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen meeting Israeli president Isaac Herzog showed “people who committed genocide”.
The comments have drawn particular criticism because Bird is the official secretariat for the Gulf APPG.
Tory MP Bob Stewart was convicted of racial abuse - JULIAN SIMMONDS
APPGs are informal committees set up by MPs and peers with a shared interest in a subject. On Parliament’s website, Mr Alwadaei is listed as the “public enquiry point” for the Gulf group.
A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: “These social media posts are grotesque.
“For an organisation ostensibly concerned with human rights and democracy, these individuals seem to aim considerable vitriol at the only state in the region that has either.
“Clearly, people with such inflammatory views have no place serving on the secretariat of an APPG.”
The spokesman added that the APPG’s members should “distance themselves” from such “odious” views.
The claim that Israel is responsible for genocide is controversial.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international Jewish civil rights organisation, has said that accusing Israel of genocide is inaccurate, sensationalist and “serves to demonise the state of Israel and to diminish recognised acts of genocide”.
Some people have applied the term in relation to the situation in Gaza. Last week, the director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights quit his role citing “a genocide unfolding before our eyes”.
Claim of apartheid is contentious
The claim that Israel is an apartheid state is also contentious. While some organisations such as Amnesty International have made this claim, the ADL said it is “inaccurate, offensive and often used to delegitimise and denigrate Israel as a whole”.
Lord Mann, the Government’s independent adviser on anti-Semitism, said Mr Alwadaei’s comments raised questions about his appropriateness to provide the APPG’s secretariat.
The peer, who sits on the Bahrain APPG, said: “I don’t find the views at all acceptable, but if that’s his view, that’s his view.
“But that’s not what APPGs and their secretariats are about. They are there to help Parliament to have rational debate, and that language isn’t rational, measured debate that’s a constructive contribution.”
In response, Mr Alwadaei pointed to how UN special rapporteurs warned there was a “risk of genocide” in Gaza last month.
He said: “My personal views on the behaviour of the Israeli state in Gaza are legitimate criticisms shared by UN experts and in any event, I never claimed that my personal views on Twitter are representing my work at Bird and they have no bearing on our work for the APPG.”
He added that thousands of children had been killed in Gaza and “UN experts have called for the prevention of a genocide”.
Mr McGeehan said: “I’m proud to support Bird’s vital work on Bahrain and would encourage all your readers to follow the work of human rights activists from the Middle East like Marwa Fatafta and Hossam Baghat.
“It is vital that Israel’s war crimes in Gaza be called out vociferously and that the warnings of genocide from scholars of genocide and UN experts be heeded.
“This is a very weak attempt to delegitimise important criticism of Israel’s actions by conflating support for the Palestinian cause with support for Hamas and its indefensible massacre of Oct 7.
“This sort of threatening, ad hominem journalism, imperils freedom of speech at a time when conscientious discussion and reporting of flagrant and systematic violations of international law in the Middle East is desperately needed.”
Tory MP Bob Stewart guilty of racially abusing activist after saying ‘go back to Bahrain’
Ted Hennessey and Nicholas Cecil
Fri, 3 November 2023
Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, was found guilty of racially abusing an activist (PA Wire)
A senior London Tory MP has been found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to "go back to Bahrain".
Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei "you're taking money off my country, go away!" during a row outside the Foreign Office's Lancaster House in Westminster on December 14 last year.
Rishi Sunak faced immediate calls to suspend Mr Stewart as a Tory MP following the conviction, for which he was handed a £600 fine.The 74-year-old had been attending an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy when protester Mr Alwadaei shouted "Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?"
During a heated exchange, Stewart replied: "Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain."
In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, he also said: "Now shut up, you stupid man."
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence and gave him the £600 fine, with additional legal costs bringing the total to £1,435.
Mr Goldspring, despite mentioning Stewart's "immense positive character", remarked: "I accept he is not racist per se, but that is not the case against him.
"Good men can do bad things."
Stewart, asked for his thoughts on the allegations of racial hostility, had earlier said: "That's absurd, it's totally unfair, my life has been, I don't want to say destroyed, but I am deeply hurt at having to appear in a court like this."
The MP declared: "I am not a racist."
He continued: "He was saying that I was corrupt and that I had taken money.My honour was at stake in front of a large number of ambassadors. It upset me and I thought it was extremely offensive."
Following the conviction, calling for Mr Stewart to be suspended from the Parliamentary Tory party, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said:"Failing to remove the whip sends a dangerous message that behaviour like this is acceptable.”
Stewart told the court he had "no idea" who Mr Alwadaei was and said he used the word "hate" because of what the protester was saying.
The MP went on: "'Go back to Bahrain' meant 'Why don't you go back to Bahrain and make your point there?"'
He told of being "goaded" and "embarrassed" by Mr Alwadaei.
Asked if he accused Mr Alwadaei of taking money from the UK, the MP went on: "I made the assumption he too was living in this country and was benefiting from living in this country.
"I certainly didn't mean he was a freeloader."
The MP used the phrase "my country" because he "assumed" Mr Alwadaei was from Bahrain but accepted the words "this country" would "perhaps have been better", the court heard.
Stewart, a former British Army officer who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969, said he is a "friend" of the Middle Eastern country.
He went on: "I've spent my whole life in a way defending minorities and people of different colours."
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after a complaint was made by Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) activist Mr Alwadaei, who has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state.
Speaking about the row, Mr Alwadaei said: "I feel that I was dehumanised, like I was someone who is not welcomed in the UK."
He added: "Because of my skin colour, because of where I came from, he feels I am taking money from his country."
During his evidence, Mr Alwadaei said he was exercising his right to protest by questioning Stewart and had not intended to insult the MP.
He accused Stewart of being financed by Bahrain and of acting as a "well-known defender" of the regime, the court heard.
The protester also claimed that during a trip to the country, Stewart had chanted "god save the king of Bahrain".
Mr Alwadaei went on to say if he did return to Bahrain, he would "undoubtedly be killed and tortured".
Paul Jarvis, prosecuting, said: "Mr Alwadaei felt upset and humiliated by what had taken place."
He added: "He (Stewart) demonstrated racial hostility towards Mr Alwadaei by way of his comments."
However, the prosecutor said Stewart "was not motivated by racial hostility", merely demonstrating it.
Mr Jarvis told the court Stewart later said he "regretted" the comments and that he should have ignored the protester.
Paul Cavin KC, defending, had argued: "There is no right to confront an MP in public and expect answers in a measured House of Commons way."
He added: "Any hostility was based on the complainant's behaviour, conduct and speech towards the defendant."
Parliamentary records show Stewart registered flights, accommodation and meals worth £5,349 during a four-day trip to Bahrain last November paid for by its ministry of foreign affairs.
A separate entry covered by the Bahraini government shows another trip, worth £1,245.56, to visit an air show and meet its foreign minister.
Mr Alwadaei alleged the country is "corrupt" and a "human rights violator".
Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, 90, giving character evidence, said "kind" and "thoughtful" Stewart has a "flippant" manner, adding: "He is given to saying things that are unwise but his heart is absolutely in the right place."
Stewart had kept the Tory whip after being charged and denying the offence.
Ted Hennessey and Nicholas Cecil
Fri, 3 November 2023
Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, was found guilty of racially abusing an activist (PA Wire)
A senior London Tory MP has been found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to "go back to Bahrain".
Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei "you're taking money off my country, go away!" during a row outside the Foreign Office's Lancaster House in Westminster on December 14 last year.
Rishi Sunak faced immediate calls to suspend Mr Stewart as a Tory MP following the conviction, for which he was handed a £600 fine.The 74-year-old had been attending an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy when protester Mr Alwadaei shouted "Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?"
During a heated exchange, Stewart replied: "Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain."
In footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, he also said: "Now shut up, you stupid man."
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the MP guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence and gave him the £600 fine, with additional legal costs bringing the total to £1,435.
Mr Goldspring, despite mentioning Stewart's "immense positive character", remarked: "I accept he is not racist per se, but that is not the case against him.
"Good men can do bad things."
Stewart, asked for his thoughts on the allegations of racial hostility, had earlier said: "That's absurd, it's totally unfair, my life has been, I don't want to say destroyed, but I am deeply hurt at having to appear in a court like this."
The MP declared: "I am not a racist."
He continued: "He was saying that I was corrupt and that I had taken money.My honour was at stake in front of a large number of ambassadors. It upset me and I thought it was extremely offensive."
Following the conviction, calling for Mr Stewart to be suspended from the Parliamentary Tory party, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said:"Failing to remove the whip sends a dangerous message that behaviour like this is acceptable.”
Stewart told the court he had "no idea" who Mr Alwadaei was and said he used the word "hate" because of what the protester was saying.
The MP went on: "'Go back to Bahrain' meant 'Why don't you go back to Bahrain and make your point there?"'
He told of being "goaded" and "embarrassed" by Mr Alwadaei.
Asked if he accused Mr Alwadaei of taking money from the UK, the MP went on: "I made the assumption he too was living in this country and was benefiting from living in this country.
"I certainly didn't mean he was a freeloader."
The MP used the phrase "my country" because he "assumed" Mr Alwadaei was from Bahrain but accepted the words "this country" would "perhaps have been better", the court heard.
Stewart, a former British Army officer who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969, said he is a "friend" of the Middle Eastern country.
He went on: "I've spent my whole life in a way defending minorities and people of different colours."
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after a complaint was made by Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) activist Mr Alwadaei, who has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state.
Speaking about the row, Mr Alwadaei said: "I feel that I was dehumanised, like I was someone who is not welcomed in the UK."
He added: "Because of my skin colour, because of where I came from, he feels I am taking money from his country."
During his evidence, Mr Alwadaei said he was exercising his right to protest by questioning Stewart and had not intended to insult the MP.
He accused Stewart of being financed by Bahrain and of acting as a "well-known defender" of the regime, the court heard.
The protester also claimed that during a trip to the country, Stewart had chanted "god save the king of Bahrain".
Mr Alwadaei went on to say if he did return to Bahrain, he would "undoubtedly be killed and tortured".
Paul Jarvis, prosecuting, said: "Mr Alwadaei felt upset and humiliated by what had taken place."
He added: "He (Stewart) demonstrated racial hostility towards Mr Alwadaei by way of his comments."
However, the prosecutor said Stewart "was not motivated by racial hostility", merely demonstrating it.
Mr Jarvis told the court Stewart later said he "regretted" the comments and that he should have ignored the protester.
Paul Cavin KC, defending, had argued: "There is no right to confront an MP in public and expect answers in a measured House of Commons way."
He added: "Any hostility was based on the complainant's behaviour, conduct and speech towards the defendant."
Parliamentary records show Stewart registered flights, accommodation and meals worth £5,349 during a four-day trip to Bahrain last November paid for by its ministry of foreign affairs.
A separate entry covered by the Bahraini government shows another trip, worth £1,245.56, to visit an air show and meet its foreign minister.
Mr Alwadaei alleged the country is "corrupt" and a "human rights violator".
Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, 90, giving character evidence, said "kind" and "thoughtful" Stewart has a "flippant" manner, adding: "He is given to saying things that are unwise but his heart is absolutely in the right place."
Stewart had kept the Tory whip after being charged and denying the offence.
Sunak urged to expel MP guilty of racial abuse who told protester to ‘go back to Bahrain’
Jane Dalton
Fri, 3 November 2023
Rishi Sunak has been urged to remove the Tory whip from backbencher Bob Stewart after he was found guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats led calls for the prime minister to act against the “totally unacceptable” behaviour of the former Army officer, who told an activist to “go back to Bahrain”.
Stewart, 74, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei “you’re taking money off my country – go away!”
The MP for Beckenham in southeast London, who told the court he was not a racist, had claimed his “honour was at stake” during a row between them at a rally in central London.
In the exchange on 14 December last year, Mr Alwadaei shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”
During the row outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster, Stewart replied: “I didn’t. Now shut up, you stupid man.”
Footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court also showed that he said: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found Stewart, who had denied the charge, guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.
After giving his verdict, he fined the MP £600, with additional legal costs, bringing the total to £1,435.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “This is yet another serious Conservative scandal. This behaviour is totally unacceptable for a sitting MP. Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party need to immediately take action, and remove the Conservative whip.”
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “It’s time Sunak finally acted with integrity. This should start with immediately removing the whip from Bob Stewart. Failing to remove the whip sends a dangerous message that behaviour like this is acceptable.
“Rishi Sunak has allowed his first year as prime minister to be dogged in sleaze and scandal; the very least he could do now is to finally crack down on it.”
Last year, The Independent revealed that Stewart, who has spoken in defence of the Bahraini regime in Parliament, has received at least £10,000 worth of hospitality and travel from the country’s rulers.
He has been paid to travel to the country on numerous occasions, with thousands of pounds spent on him each time.
The register of MPs’ interests shows that for the latest trip, the government of Bahrain provided him with flights worth £649.66, accommodation worth £428 and meals worth £167.90, all with a total value of £1,245.56.
In a speech in Bahrain, he said the country’s leadership had “done a very good job of changing the way it looks after its citizens” – before elections that were internationally condemned as a sham.
He also said: “I can say this now, as a British [citizen]: God save the King of England, and God save the King of Bahrain!”
Mr Alwadaei, director of the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and himself a political exile from the country, told The Independent last year he was devastated by Mr Stewart’s praise for the regime.
“As a Bahraini who was rendered stateless as a revenge tactic because I dared to protest the presence of Bahrain’s dictator who was visiting the UK, I cannot return to my country, simply because I took a stand for human rights,” he said.
“I’m devastated to see Bob Stewart going to Bahrain at the expense of the subjugated people of a corrupt dictatorship. Our people would not choose to finance an MP legitimising sham elections when opposition leaders languish behind bars.”
Since 2011 the Bahrainian government has banned several opposition parties. It has also tightened restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, according to human rights groups.
Stewart is on the intelligence and security committee of Parliament, the national security strategy committee and the Northern Ireland committee.
The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.
Jane Dalton
Fri, 3 November 2023
Rishi Sunak has been urged to remove the Tory whip from backbencher Bob Stewart after he was found guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats led calls for the prime minister to act against the “totally unacceptable” behaviour of the former Army officer, who told an activist to “go back to Bahrain”.
Stewart, 74, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei “you’re taking money off my country – go away!”
The MP for Beckenham in southeast London, who told the court he was not a racist, had claimed his “honour was at stake” during a row between them at a rally in central London.
In the exchange on 14 December last year, Mr Alwadaei shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”
During the row outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster, Stewart replied: “I didn’t. Now shut up, you stupid man.”
Footage played during a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court also showed that he said: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found Stewart, who had denied the charge, guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.
After giving his verdict, he fined the MP £600, with additional legal costs, bringing the total to £1,435.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “This is yet another serious Conservative scandal. This behaviour is totally unacceptable for a sitting MP. Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party need to immediately take action, and remove the Conservative whip.”
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “It’s time Sunak finally acted with integrity. This should start with immediately removing the whip from Bob Stewart. Failing to remove the whip sends a dangerous message that behaviour like this is acceptable.
“Rishi Sunak has allowed his first year as prime minister to be dogged in sleaze and scandal; the very least he could do now is to finally crack down on it.”
Last year, The Independent revealed that Stewart, who has spoken in defence of the Bahraini regime in Parliament, has received at least £10,000 worth of hospitality and travel from the country’s rulers.
He has been paid to travel to the country on numerous occasions, with thousands of pounds spent on him each time.
The register of MPs’ interests shows that for the latest trip, the government of Bahrain provided him with flights worth £649.66, accommodation worth £428 and meals worth £167.90, all with a total value of £1,245.56.
In a speech in Bahrain, he said the country’s leadership had “done a very good job of changing the way it looks after its citizens” – before elections that were internationally condemned as a sham.
He also said: “I can say this now, as a British [citizen]: God save the King of England, and God save the King of Bahrain!”
Mr Alwadaei, director of the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and himself a political exile from the country, told The Independent last year he was devastated by Mr Stewart’s praise for the regime.
“As a Bahraini who was rendered stateless as a revenge tactic because I dared to protest the presence of Bahrain’s dictator who was visiting the UK, I cannot return to my country, simply because I took a stand for human rights,” he said.
“I’m devastated to see Bob Stewart going to Bahrain at the expense of the subjugated people of a corrupt dictatorship. Our people would not choose to finance an MP legitimising sham elections when opposition leaders languish behind bars.”
Since 2011 the Bahrainian government has banned several opposition parties. It has also tightened restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, according to human rights groups.
Stewart is on the intelligence and security committee of Parliament, the national security strategy committee and the Northern Ireland committee.
The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.
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