A Leeds councillor who posted historic tweets described as “grossly insulting” to the Jewish community has claimed the posts have been “taken out of context”.
Two social media posts by Councillor John Garvani, dating from 2012, were referred to party chiefs for “investigation” when they were flagged up to Leeds’ Labour group in May.
But asked for an update on the case earlier this month, a Labour spokesperson said Councillor Garvani had in fact already received “sanctions” for the tweets by the party’s National Executive Committee in 2021, a year before he was elected onto the city council to serve the Horsforth ward.
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The party, however, refused to reveal what specific action was taken. Councillor Garvani said he was reminded of the party’s social media code of conduct last year, but that no further action was taken.
In one 2012 post, Councillor Garvani had written, “Why can’t we question the existence of Israel?” alongside a link to an article of the same name on politics.co.uk. In another five months late, he referred to a guest on the Today Programme on Radio Four as ‘that Jew’.
Speaking after the tweets emerged in May, Leeds Conservative councillor Dan Cohen, who is himself Jewish, said: “I consider these tweets to be anti-Semitic and grossly insulting. I shared the content of these tweets with other senior members of the Leeds Jewish community who share my view, my distress and my disgust.”
Councillor Garvani had been in line to chair a council committee following his election, but the Leeds Labour group pulled his candidacy at the authority’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May, after the tweets were sent to senior local figures the night before.
Speaking earlier this month, Councillor Garvani said he’d since had an amicable discussion with a Jewish community group in the city to discuss the posts.
Asked if he regretted the tweets, Councillor Garvani said: “I regret that they’ve been out of context. They’ve been dealt with by the party and I was reminded of the party’s social media code of conduct.”
Coun Garvani claimed that the tweet about the existence of Israel was “taken wrongly” because people seeing the post several years later had not read the article accompanying it.
Of the second tweet, he claimed he’d used the term ‘that Jew’ as “rapid shorthand” because he was unable to remember the guest’s name.
He said: “If it had been an Islamic guest I’d have referred to them as ‘that Muslim’ and if it had been a Christian I’d have referred to them as ‘that Christian’.”
Asked about the Labour Party’s statement that sanctions had been imposed on him last year, Coun Garvani said: “The fact that I was allowed to stand as an election candidate in May would suggest there’s no sanctions of any significance.
“I was reminded of the party’s social media code of conduct. I don’t [know] whether you’d consider that as a sanction.”
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