Ahmed B Sheriff

I’ve just seen a tweet saying that Margaret Hodge has been appointed as the new Chair of @Ofcom. Is this true? If it is then it is a deeply concerning appointment considering Hodge’s factional track record in doing everything she could to take down Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of The @UKLabour Party (the manner of her behaviour in doing so) and her prominent, aggressive pro-Israel activism in opposing support for the Palestinian people. This is not an appointment that will ensure a non-partisan running of @ofcom. Hodge will do everything she can to oppose and mute support in the media for the Palestinian people. Hodge is already running the @JewishLabour Movement and is the figurehead of Labour Friends of Israel in the UK Parliament - two aggressive, abusive and ruthless lobby organisations embedded in The Labour Party. One can only presume that Hodge will bring to her role at Ofcom all of her substantial contempt for any support given to the Palestinian people. This is a politically loaded appointment that consolidates the Israel lobby’s grip on politics and the media in the UK. Hodge has prominent client journalists and broadcasters working for her in the MSM including the @guardian’s @PippaCrerar while her daughter, @islingtonlizzi Watson, is a long-standing senior editor at @BBCNews. Wouldn’t it appear therefore that there is a clear conflict of interests behind Hodge’s appointment? Doesn’t it give Hodge the opportunity to exert more undue influence over the British media than she already does? Hodge’s appointment is inflammatory and provocative but not in the least surprising. It’s par for the course with Starmer who is filling every Labour controlled ministry and public office with zealous supporters of Israel. We have seen how documentaries detailing Israeli atrocities in Gaza have been taken down and banned such as Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone. Hodge will ensure that such documentaries will never see the light of day in Britain. Hodge’s appointment will be welcomed by her many friends and ideological allies at home and abroad, not least the indicted war criminal and President of Israel Isaac Herzog whom Margaret Hodge and her Labour Friends of Israel colleagues visit on a regular basis. A deeply worrying appointment - not least in respect of the threat it poses to democratic and impartial transparency in the British media. @Ofcom @_LFI @JewishLabour #LabourCronyism @margarethodge #ItWasAScam @jeremycorbyn @UKLabour @Isaac_Herzog