The Labour Party of the United Kingdom has withdrawn the candidacy of two candidates standing for election in two days over anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks they made to the press.

As reported by the BBC, the Mail on Sunday published comments last week from Ali, claiming Israel had “allowed” the Hamas attack.

Ali subsequently apologized “to Jewish leaders for my inexcusable comments.”

Monday evening the Daily Mail published a fuller recording, allegedly of Ali, blaming “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of Andy McDonald from the Labour Party.

McDonald was suspended last year after saying: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

The person on the recording goes on to say Israel planned to “get rid of [Palestinians] from Gaza” and “grab” the land.

He also appears to boast about preventing Israeli flags being flown from local public buildings after the deadly attack by Hamas gunmen on 7 October.

Then on Wednesday, February 14, according to the BBC, Labour suspended a second parliamentary candidate over comments he allegedly made about Israel.

Graham Jones, the former Labour MP for Hyndburn, is also facing an investigation, the BBC understands.

Labour had selected Jones to contest his former Lancashire seat in the forthcoming general election.

The BBC understands Jones was suspended for comments he appears to have made about Israel, but Labour has yet to identify the specific remarks.

On Tuesday the Guido Fawkes website published audio in which the former MP allegedly uses an expletive to refer to Israel and argues that British people who fight in the Israel Defense Forces “should be locked up.”

Bits of the story available here.

Update: “Third Labour Politician ‘Spoken To’ amid Anti-Semitism Row as Starmer Battles to Control Crisis ahead of By-Elections“:

A third Labour politician has been spoken to about comments made at a local party meeting, as party leader Keir Starmer battles an escalating anti-Semitism crisis.

Munsif Dad, a councillor for Hyndburn in Lancashire, has had talks with Labour officials about a meeting at the center of an anti-Semitism row that threatens to engulf the party.

Full story here.