Melanie Ward, CEO of the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) charity, faces major backlash from volunteers and workers after deciding to run as a Labour Party candidate in Scotland. Some 2,250 healthcare workers, medical volunteers, supporters, and donors signed a letter expressing concern.

On June 5, a protest letter was filed by workers and volunteers at MAP, expressing their dismay to the board over Ward’s candidacy with the UK Labour Party. To run for the position of MP in Scotland’s Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, Ward has taken a leave of absence but has not stepped down from her position.

Despite Ward’s pledge to make real progress for the Palestinian people if elected to Parliament, MAP is currently without an acting CEO during a healthcare collapse in Gaza. Some fear her actions could jeopardize the aid organization’s efforts on the ground, leading to threats of referring MAP to the Charity Commission.

Ward’s candidacy, announced in May, came at an opportune time for the Labour Party. The candidate she replaced, Wilma Brown, was suspended after liking a series of racist tweets, including one calling former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf the “first minister of Gaza.” Ward, perceived as a pro-Palestinian voice, provided Labour with a counterbalance to the pro-Israeli shift under Keir Starmer’s leadership.

At the same time, MAP was calling on Israel to stop targeting healthcare workers and hospitals in Gaza, while Starmer was advocating for a pause and had ordered his party not to endorse a ceasefire last November. Starmer is facing a pending investigation for allegedly “aiding, abetting, or otherwise assisting” Israeli war crimes and has supported Israel’s “right” to cut off water and power to Gaza.

Ward has a history of affiliations with pro-Israel lobby groups, starting with her first trip to Palestine, organized by the Israeli Embassy-funded Union of Jewish Students (UJS). She blogged about meeting Israeli politicians and visiting settlements but shifted her perspective after a second visit to the West Bank. However, her relationship with UJS continued, including participating in a 2017 UJS panel called “Bridges Not Boycotts,” opposing boycotts of Israel.

In 2017, Ward publicly congratulated Israel lobbyist Danny Stone on receiving a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) award for his work combating antisemitism, which she praised as “excellent.”

Ward also supported the anti-Semitism “witch hunt” during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, which purged much of Labour’s pro-Palestinian base, including many Jewish anti-Zionists. She tweeted, “Farewell to Jeremy Corbyn, who really was a truly terrible Labour Party Leader. He will be missed not one little bit by those of us who want to see Labour in government again.”

In 2016, she signed a letter calling for Corbyn’s resignation, shared an article urging the public not to vote for him and tweeted the former Labour leader in 2015, “Corbyn unable to think of situation where he’d commit Forces to military action. Should think a bit harder if he wants to be PM,” in response to his anti-war stance.

Since Keir Starmer took over from Corbyn, there has been a greater purge of leftist and pro-Palestinian elements from the party. The current stances of the party have reportedly isolated minority groups, especially potential Muslim voters.

Feature photo | Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in discussion with Melanie Ward, Chief Executive Officer, during a visit to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a Palestinian aid charity in London, October 13, 2023. Photo | AP Images

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

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