A Muslim member of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru has been suspended after admitting to “antisemitic” social media posts several years ago.
Sahar al-Faifi appeared in the Welsh nationalist party’s election broadcast just a few days ago and received a barrage of Islamophobic abuse after it was aired.
But she now faces an investigation after old social media posts criticising Israel and the Israel lobby in the UK were uncovered, for which she has apologised.
Al-Faifi is the latest Muslim in public life who has been under scrutiny during the General Election campaign. Zarah Sultana and Ali Milani, who are prospective Labour Party parliamentary candidates, both apologised for old social media posts targeting Israel.
Following the discovery of the social media posts, Plaid Cymru said it would not tolerate antisemitism or racism “in any form.”
“We have taken immediate action to suspend the person in question. We will investigate all allegations,” the party said. “Plaid Cymru will not tolerate anti-Semitism, racism or intolerance in any form. That includes the appalling abuse the individual has been subject to. It is not a part of the Wales we want to build.”
For her part, Al-Faifi said her posts had crossed the boundary of criticism of Israel into antisemitism. She added that she had deleted the tweets, undertaken antisemitism training through the pro-Israel Board of Deputies of British Jews, and would never repeat the same mistakes.
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Meanwhile, after its election broadcast which featured Al-Faifi, Plaid Cymru sent a tweet saying the post received “abusive Islamophobic responses” that are “unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
The party’s tweet continued: “We stand with Sahar and all Muslim people in Wales and beyond. Wales is rich in its diversity. We are all Welsh citizens. We are all equal.”
