Labour MP Clive Lewis shared a social media post on Saturday which accused the Prime Minister, his party leader, of “taking Israel’s money and orders”.
The post, made originally by Dr Louise Raw, a historian and former contributor to BBC Radio London, included a photo of what appeared to be badly burned child, which she implied was related to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
The image has since been clarified, by X’s community notes service, to be of a young Turkish boy suffering from a genetic disorder which causes the thickening and blistering of the skin.
Captioning the photo, Raw wrote: “Very sorry about the photo but I want to understand how everyone isn’t screaming inside.
"A precious baby still trying to smile and show love.
"How aren’t you in tears every day Keir Starmer? You have kids. How are you still taking Israel’s money & orders?”
The post was shared by Lewis, a long-time pro-Palestinian voice in Parliament, on April 26, though he has since deleted his retweet and admitted that it was a “mistake”.
He told the JC: "I’ve now seen the social media warning attached that wasn’t there when I retweeted.
“I’ve also re read the text again and can see the mistake I’ve made.
“There are a lot of images from Gaza that are legitimate and quite terrible. I believed this to be one of them but see I was mistaken. As such I’ve unshared.
“I always strive to ensure i share accurate and acceptable material. This fell below that standard and I apologise for any offence caused, which was of course unintentional."
Lewis has previously drawn criticism over aspects of his advocacy for Palestine, including when he appeared to link the Gaza war to the far-right riots last summer.
The MP for Norwich South tweeted at the time: “The link between the daily inhumanity being metted [sic] out to Palestinians and rising Islamophobia in the UK, are not unconnected.
"The inhumanity being shown to one is giving ‘permission’ for the other. These actions diminish us all.”
His comments were labelled “sectarian incitement” by Labour Against Antisemitism co-director Alex Hearn, who called for Lewis to be suspended from the party, but no further action was taken.
The riots were sparked by the Southport murders, during which Axel Rudakubana claimed the lives of three young girls at a dance class, and fuelled by online speculation that Rudakubana was either an illegal immigrant or an Islamist terrorist.
Rudakubana was born in Cardiff and police have never treated his case as terror-related as he did not appear to follow a single ideology.
A Labour Party spokesperson told the JC: “This social media post expresses incorrect and unacceptable tropes. Clive Lewis MP has deleted the repost and rightly apologised for the offence caused. Mr Lewis has been reminded about the high standards of conduct expected by representatives of the Labour Party.”
