A Conservative councillor who was suspended from the Party last year over social media posts, before being permitted to re-join, has resigned from the Thomas Deacon Education Trust.
The Trust has confirmed to Campaign Against Antisemitism that Ishfaq Hussain was appointed a trustee of the Thomas Deacon Education Trust on 20th September 2021 and that he subsequently stepped down as a trustee on 3rd March 2022. The reasons for his resignation are not spelled out.
Cllr Hussain had apologised for sharing antisemitic tropes on Facebook. In one Facebook post, he accused the “Saudi regime” of being “long standing puppets of America and Israel,” and went on to label them “a trilogy of Zionists.” He then remarked that “Islam doesn’t breed terrorists the Zionist trilogy do.” Mr Hussain also shared a video that was captioned: “The Jews in Israel are not true Jews.”
Cllr Hussain had also captioned his profile picture: “This person does not recognise the State of Israel.” He also reportedly claimed that “Zionism is one of the worst afflictions on the world” and made other inflammatory comments about “Zionists”.
In his apology, Mr Hussain said: “I recognise Israel’s right to exist and wholeheartedly support a two-state solution. I deeply regret that my frustration at events in Israel and Palestine led me to suggest otherwise. Some of my previous language was ill-judged and offensive. It also echoed antisemitic tropes in ways I had not fully understood. However strongly we feel, we should never let our emotions get the better of us. By doing so, I allowed myself to become part of the problem. I am truly sorry.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that, we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
