Labour councillor suspended over anti-Semitic tweets that praised Hitler

Suspended: Aysegul Gurbuz
Luton Borough Council
Hannah Al-Othman10 April 2016
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A 20-year-old Labour councillor has been suspended by her party after vile anti-Semitic tweets were discovered on her Twitter account.

Aysegul Gurbuz was elected to Luton Borough Council last May. Tweets posted on her account include a claim that Hitler is the "greatest man in history" and the shocking statement: "The Jews are so powerful in the US it's disgusting."

The councillor, who represents the High Town ward and is Luton's youngest, also sits on a panel supervising Bedfordshire Police.

An investigation team at the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism uncovered the tweets, which were posted between 2011 and 2014.

Cllr Gurbuz's Twitter account appears to have been recently deleted.

Shocking: One of the tweets posted to the account
Twitter

As well as being a local councillor, Gurbuz was a candidate for Warwick Student Union’s Ethnic Minorities Officer, listing in her manifesto a commitment to “increase awareness of Holocaust Memorial Day”, and promising "more investment in interfaith week."

The Politics and Sociology student is also listed as the events coordinator on the executive committee of Warwick University's Friends of Palestine Society.

Cllr Gurbuz could not be reached for comment, but when approached by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism she said that she had no recollection of sending the tweets and claimed that her sister may have posted them.

Vile: another of the Twitter posts
Twitter

A spokesperson for the charity said: "Our investigations team found these anti-Semitic tweets on Aysegul Gurbuz’s personal account. There is no defence for that.

"The Holocaust was a uniquely dark chapter of our recent history, when more than six million Jews were murdered as part of a plan put in place by Adolf Hitler.

"Not only do the tweets glorify Hitler, they also express hope that Iran will wipe out another six million Jews in Israel with a nuclear weapon."

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Councillor Gurbuz has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation."

Inflammatory: Tweets also contained references to violence
Twitter

Following the revelations about Cllr Gurbuz, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party is "absolutely resolute" on tackling "abhorrent" anti-Semitism.

The Labour leader said there is "no place for any racism of any sort" within the party and said swift action is taken in any cases which come to light.

Mr Corbyn told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Anti-Semitism is absolutely abhorrent and wrong. Anyone that commits any act of anti-Semitism, that makes anti-Semitic remarks, is auto excluded from the party and an inquiry follows immediately.

"We have suspended, we will suspend, any member that behaves in that way."

Offensive: Tweets even took a swipe at the former Labour leader
Twitter

Luton Borough Council's chief executive Trevor Holden said: "This will be referred as a matter of urgency to the council’s independent standards committee to allow a full investigation to take place.

"The council expects the highest standards of councillors and will not accept any behaviour which could undermine community cohesion."

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