Labour's Zarah Sultana apologises for 'celebrate deaths' post

A LABOUR candidate has apologised on Monday (4) for saying she would celebrate the deaths of Tony Blair and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Zarah Sultana, who is standing for Coventry South, also wrote that she supported “violent resistance” by Palestinians and used the hashtag “extremistmuslim” online.

In posts uncovered by the Jewish Chronicle, the former Birmingham University student wrote in 2015: “Try and stop me when the likes of Blair, Netanyahu and Bush die.”

She added: ‘The sooner they meet their creator the better. The concepts of justice and accountability don’t truly exist in this life. Only in the next.’

On Monday, Sultana apologised for the tweets and said they were from a "deleted account dating back several years from when I was a student".

She also said the tweets were written out of frustration and not hatred or malice.

"This was written out of frustration rather than any malice," she said in a statement. Her anger had arisen "from decisions by political leaders, from the Iraq War to the killing of over 2,000 Palestinians in 2014, mostly civilians, which was condemned by the United Nations".

She added: "I do not support violence and I should not have articulated my anger in the manner I did, for which I apologise."

Reacting to the tweets, Labour member Damian Gannon said Sultana should stand down instead of contesting in the December election. “I, and I hope every other Labour Party member in Coventry, am fuming about these revelations. This is so serious, we are so much better than this,” he was quoted as saying.

He added: “She should stand down. Coventry is the city of peace and reconciliation we can’t have candidates calling for violent resistance and saying she would celebrate the deaths of world leaders.”