Bradford's former Lord Mayor Khadim Hussain has spoken out after he was suspended from the Labour party over a series of offensive comments on social media – including a remark that implied Israel was secretly arming terrorist-group Daesh.

Mr Hussain, the district councillor for Keighley Central on Bradford Metropolitan's District Council, also promoted a post that said Hitler killed “six million Zionists” on his Facebook page in February.

The post, which was shared by Mr Hussain, attacked Holocaust education in schools. It read: “Your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the six million Zionists that were killed by Hitler.”

In another post, he implied that is was Israel “who created the so-called ISIS and who is arming those vile terrorists”.

Speaking to the JC, Mr Hussain, who did not deny posting the messages, said: “I have made it clear that under no circumstances I am antisemitic.”

Mr Hussain was asked whether he believed the circulated conspiracy theory that Israel was secretly arming Daesh. He said:
“I have no proof to agree with that statement as you [know] there are many theories put forward.”

Asked whether he believed there was too much focus on Holocaust education in British schools, he said: “People should be reminded of the atrocities of Hitler and killings of innocent children and women. Message needs to be repeated.”

He added: “My conscious on this is clear”.

He went onto highlight his interfaith work, saying: “When I was the Lord Mayor of Bradford I launched Anne Frank exhibition and I made several visits to the synagogue in Bradford. The [rabbi] sent me a personal letter of thanks for bringing [the] Jewish and Muslim community together.”

Last week, a Labour party spokeswoman confirmed that Mr Hussain, who served as Lord Mayor from 2013-2014, had been suspended from the party.

She said: “Mr Hussain is suspended from the Labour party pending an investigation.”

Mr Hussain sent a letter to Labour in response to what he described as “baseless allegations and perceptions”.

He claimed that the re-post, which implied that Israel was arming Daesh, was intended “to contradict the thrust of the original post within which the author had argued that Isis was a ‘conspiracy’ initiated and perpetuated by the state of Israel”.

Regarding the post on Holocaust education, he said: “My sole intention was merely to highlight that all genocides in history were appalling acts committed by barbarians and could not in any way be justified. I am very saddened and upset that my repost have been misinterpreted.”

He added that he was a pioneer of interfaith work who had donated to the local synagogue. He also said he had attended a Labour Friends of Israel event with Keighley’s former MP Ann Cryer.

Mr Hussain went on to pledge his allegiance to the party’s leader, adding: “I am a supporter of our Leader Jeremy Corbyn. I note that he made some remarks with regards to Hamas and Hezbollah being ‘his friends’. Subsequently he had the opportunity to explain himself and put those remarks in context.”