By: Nick Jackson
ANTI-ISLAMIC tweets which appear to have been posted by a Tory local election candidate in Trafford have been taken down along with her profile on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The posts and retweets allegedly made by Natalie Shalom who is standing in the Hale ward have come to light ahead of the May 2 poll, in which 21 of the council’s seats are being contested.
After the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted Shalom and Tory group leader Coun Nathan Evans on Tuesday (16), the tweets along with her profile disappeared from X. Neither has so far commented.
But a spokesperson from the Altrincham and Sale West Conservative Association said: “We condemn all acts of islamophobia in the strongest possible terms. As soon as we were made aware of the remarks in question, Altrincham and Sale West Conservative Association escalated the matter through the Conservative Party complaints procedure, in accordance with our zero-tolerance approach to islamophobia. Whilst that process is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat group leader on Trafford council, Coun Shaun Ennis, has called for the Tories to ‘drop’ their Hale candidate.
Screengrabs of the tweets show that Shalom appeared to repost a tweet that said: “Who paid for the UNRWA (the United Nations Relieve and Works Agency)? Western; Which countries are the Muslims flooding into an slowly taking over? Western. Which governments are giving in to the Muslims? Western. Which universities did Arab nations give billions to? Western.”
Another retweet accuses Palestinians of using a healthy girl to stage a photograph of the suffering in Gaza in a ‘Pallywood scene’.
In her own alleged tweet, she accuses the Red Cross of standing by and watching Jews die in concentration camps as well as the hostages (taken by Hamas on October 7) suffering.
Another apparent post said: “What is Islamaphobia???? Seriously what Islamaphobia?? I don’t see anyone in [the] streets of [the] UK calling for the obliteration of Muslim countries, threatening Muslims, in fact the only threat to Muslims is OTHER Muslims..look around the world..the rest of us just want peace.”
Respondng, Trafford council’s Labour leader Coun Tom Ross told the LDRS: “Being a local representative is a position of privilege. Elected representatives, and those who aspire to be councillors, are local leaders and should always seek ways of building on community cohesion. The use of social media should always be approached with caution.”
Hannah Spencer, Hale’s Green Party councillor and Greater Manchester mayoral candidate said: “People in Hale are kind and welcoming to people of all different faiths, and none. We are proud to represent them.
“There should be no place in politics for religious intolerance or racism and it is important that whoever is elected can represent everyone in our community without prejudice.”
Coun Ennis said: “Islamophobia has no place in our politics. It was Tory councillors themselves who recently called for ‘debate not hate’ at a Trafford Council meeting (in January). If that was more than just empty words, the Conservatives must now drop their Hale candidate, who has clearly shared Islamophobic messages on social media.”
(Local Democracy Reporting Service)
