Tens of people protested outside the Labour Party office in Leytonstone after a resident said Calvin Bailey “denied genocide” was taking place in Gaza, reports Marco Marcelline

A Leytonstone woman with family in Lebanon organised a protest on Friday 22nd November outside Leyton and Wanstead MP Calvin Bailey’s constituency office after he “denied genocide” was taking place in Gaza.
Miriam, who declined to share her last name, said she was told by the MP during one of his surgeries that the use of the term ‘genocide’ was “offensive to certain communities who had experienced genocide”.
The 33-year-old mother, who has family and friends living in Lebanese villages that have been bombed by Israel, said the experience left her feeling “frustrated” and “angry”.
In May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that South Africa had a right to bring its case of genocide against Israel and that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide”.
It is yet to rule that the events unfolding in Gaza, where over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since the 7th October Hamas attacks last year, constitute a genocide.
Leading human rights organisations and United Nations experts have used the terminology for months, however.
In October, Foreign Secretary David Lammy claimed usage of the term “undermines the seriousness” of the crime, prompting outrage from pro-Palestine activists and left-wingers in his party.

A spokesperson for Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine criticised Bailey’s alleged remarks, stating: “He is expressing the highly offensive argument promoted by the Labour Party leadership, suggesting a hierarchy of slaughter based on numbers of people killed with a numerical qualification to be considered genocide, an opinion at odds with that of the world’s leading court.”
Speaking to the Echo, Bailey responded to Miriam’s claims by saying he supported the ICJ’s hearings into a “plausible” case of genocide, and would back them if they ruled Israel was guilty of perpetuating one.
He also said he was a “friend” of Palestine, having met with the Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zumlot “many times”. Bailey added: “I meet with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on every possible occasion.”
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