The Labour MP for Halifax, Holly Lynch, has belatedly withdrawn from a panel of speakers at a “struggle for Palestine” rally due to be held on Sunday in the city.

Ms Lynch, a parliamentarian who has frequently expressed support for Palestinians, and visited Gaza under the auspices of Caabu (Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding) in October 2018, said on social media on Saturday that “upon seeing the speaker list” for the rally, she had been “very clear that I will not share a platform with one of the speakers, and so will not be attending”.  The rally has been convened by the Halifax Friends of Palestine.

But the MP, the shadow immigration minister, did not make it clear which of the other speakers she was referring to. The panel included Aidi Mormech, an activist against Israel in Manchester, who had been involved in protests against a shop in the city centre in 2014, and also in a demonstration against an Elbit Systems presence in the city.

Comment on social media, however, suggested that it was the presence of Yvonne Ridley, a journalist and commentator who has been virulently anti-Israel. Ms Ridley, an Islam convert who was previously captured by the Taliban, has compared the Israeli government to the Nazis and argued that Israeli politicians were “promoting a Final Solution for Gaza”. In 2008 she described the then Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, as “a gutless little weasel who lost more than his foreskin when he was circumcised”.

Simon Myerson, QC, commented that Ms Lynch’s withdrawal was “not before time”. The barrister, who chairs the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, said: “The Jewish community of West Yorkshire welcomes this belated decision, but is concerned that Ms Lynch did not ask her staff to make proper enquiries or do due diligence. We could have told her what this group would involve her in — she needs only ask”.