“I am no longer listed as a parliamentary supporter of LFI,” Rupa Huq, a Labour member of Parliament in West London, told local party members.
Her name has indeed been removed from Labour Friends of Israel’s list of supporters. She was still listed as recently as three weeks ago.
In an emailed update to Labour members in her constituency, Ealing Central and Action, Huq wrote that she had “long been uneasy about some of the positions” LFI takes.
She gave the example of the group’s “reluctance to support any action against settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.” You can read her full statement below.
Huq also cited how the chair of the group now belongs to a rival party.
In February, LFI chair Joan Ryan quit Labour to join the new “Independent Group” of former Labour and Conservative MPs, citing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s alleged “hatred for Israel.”
A multi-millionaire Labour Friends of Israel funder donated to the new breakaway faction. Most of the ex-Labour MPs who joined the new group were listed LFI supporters. All six remain listed on LFI’s website.
LFI does not have a membership structure, but MPs and other parliamentarians agree to be listed on their site as “supporters.”
The new party is standing in next month’s local and European Parliament elections as “Change UK – The Independent Group.”