Irish politician retweets post calling Sadiq Khan ‘the enemy within’
Categories: Latest News
Friday April 06 2018
Mr Maurice Bradley, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) East Derry Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), has been heavily criticised for retweeting a post that described Mr Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, as “the enemy within”.
The tweet originated from an account which is claimed to regularly produce “extremist far-right content”.
The tweet showed a video in which the Mayor was asked by Mr Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London Assembly, whether he would seek clarification from the Home Secretary on “the rules for a banned organisation”. The video was from last year, June 2017, during a meeting at City Hall.
The video within the tweet was accompanied by text which read: “The enemy within: Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, refuses to support ban of Hezbollah terror group, says he must consider if it is the “right thing to do””.
It is believed that Mr Bradley attacked Mr Khan in response to the Mayor’s opinion on Hezbollah’s military wing being banned but not its political wing.
Mr Bradley said: “I disagree with Sadiq Khan’s approach to Hezbollah”.
Mr John Grogan, MP, said the tweet was “deeply offensive” and added “Mr Khan followed government policy which is to ban the group’s military wing but not to ban their political wing”.
Ms Claire Hanna, South Belfast MLA, said: “This shows a total failure to accept that other people are different to you”.
Mr Bradley has since apologised and removed the offensive post.
A spokesperson from DUP has said: “Maurice has rightly removed the retweet. It did not represent the DUP’s views…This matter will be considered by the Party Officers”.
On Monday, the 2nd of April 2018, another DUP MP, Mr Ian Paisley, was forced to apologise for retweeting Ms Katie Hopkin’s post which read: “March 2018. London has a higher murder rate than New York…And Ramadan’s not yet begun”.
This pattern of politicians engaging with and endorsing Islamophobic rhetoric is deeply worrying. As a multi-cultural country, it is imperative that all citizens are protected and do not feel targeted by the very people who are meant to represent them.