Following British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's public call last week to allow a British woman who went to Syria to join ISIS to return home, the Daily Mail reported over the weekend that a senior member of his party demanded to revoke the citizenship of British citizens who enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces to fight against the Palestinians.
In 2014, John McDonnell, the finance minister in Labour's shadow government and an outspoken critic of Israel, wrote to then-Home Secretary Theresa May saying she should censure British citizens who served in the IDF and administer them the same punishment to those who joined ISIS.
In the letter, McDonnell said: "Will you be warning any British citizens considering engagement with the IDF that such engagement may put their British citizenship in jeopardy? Given the seriousness of the current situation in Gaza [Operation Protective Edge] and the apparent escalation of the Israeli attacks on Palestinians, I urge you to address these questions promptly so that any British citizen currently participating or planning to participate in these attacks [against Palestinians] is warned of the potential consequences and thus may be deterred from acting in this way."
In response, a Labour spokesman said: "[The letter was written] at the height of the barbaric bombing and attacks on Gaza when hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children were being killed. This is a simple statement of law and standard practice by the government aimed at deterring and pointing out the risks involved in British citizens joining any foreign conflict. For those holding joint citizenship, it does not entail making them stateless."
According to Corbyn, Shamima Begum "was born in Britain, she has that right to remain in Britain and obviously a lot of questions she has to answer but also some support that she needs. She obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain. On that return, she must face a lot of questions about everything she's done. And at that point, any action may or may not be taken."
Britain's Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked the jihadi bride's passport after the 19-year-old from London fled to Syria aged 15 and married an Islamic State terrorist.
Meanwhile, a ninth British lawmaker left Labour over the weekend as fallout from Brexit continues to splinter U.K. politics.
Ian Austin said Friday he quit Labour due to its "culture of extremism, anti-Semitism and intolerance" under Corbyn. The party is "broken" and has been taken over by the "hard Left," Austin said.
Austin added that he was appalled at the treatment of Jewish lawmakers who had taken a stand against anti-Semitism and that the "the party is tougher on the people complaining about anti-Semitism than it is on the anti-Semites."
"The Labour Party has been my life, so this has been the hardest decision I have ever had to take, but I have to be honest and the truth is that I have become ashamed of the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn," he told the Express and Star newspaper.
"I could never ask local people to make Jeremy Corbyn prime minister," he said.
A Labour spokesman said the party regretted that Austin had decided to leave.
"He was elected as a Labour member of Parliament and so the democratic thing is to resign his seat and let the people of Dudley decide who should represent them," he said.
A Labour lawmaker since 2005 and a former government minister, Austin supports Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal and is not in favor of holding a second referendum, putting him at odds with the other Independent Group members.
