A Labour Party leader appointed to a prominent position has advocated both pro- and anti-Israel positions.
“I unequivocally condemn the despicable actions of Hamas, who targeted innocent Israeli civilians. The hostages must be returned,” wrote Shabana Mahmood, the British parliament member for Birmingham Ladywood appointed to the position of Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
Mahmood wrote to her constituents on Oct. 13, calling the Oct. 7 terror attacks “atrocities” committed “by terrorists who do not seek peace and have set back the just cause of Palestinian freedom and statehood, which I have supported my whole life.”
This advocacy on behalf of Palestinian nationalism aligns with Mahmood’s appearances at anti-Israel rallies and her support for the BDS movement, a cause created with the explicit goal of eliminating the Jewish state.
Born in Birmingham in 1980, Mahmood lived in Saudi Arabia from 1981 to 1986. A Muslim of Pakistani descent, she called her faith “the center point of my life and it drives me to public service, it drives me in the way that I live my life and I see my life.”
The district she represents includes the highest level (55.6%) of ethnic minorities in England.