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A planned visit by a Jewish Labour MP to a school in his Bristol constituency was cancelled after a campaign by a pro-Palestine group, it has emerged.
Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, had been booked in to speak to students at Bristol Brunel Academy, but the visit was called off by the school hours before it was due to happen.
The cancellation took place in September but has been highlighted now after the communities secretary, Steve Reed, said that a Jewish colleague was banned from visiting a school in his constituency amid concerns his presence would “inflame” teachers.
Speaking at a Jewish Labour Movement conference in north London on Sunday, he said: “I have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school and refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency, in case his presence inflames the teachers. That is an absolute outrage.”
Reed added: “They will be called in, and they will be held to account for doing that, because you cannot have people with those kinds of attitudes teaching our children.”
He did not name the colleague but sources close to Egan have confirmed to the Guardian that Reed was talking about the Bristol MP’s planned visit in September. It is understood there is still hope the visit may eventually go ahead.
After the visit was called off, Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign wrote on Facebook: “The planned school visit by Damien Egan, MP for Bristol North East, has been cancelled after concerns were raised by the NEU [National Education Union] staff group, parents and local constituents.
“This is a clear message: politicians who openly support Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza are not welcome in our schools. Egan is vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel and has visited Israel since the current onslaught on Gaza began, demonstrating his support.”
On its Facebook page, Bristol NEU wrote: “We celebrate this cancellation as a win for safeguarding, solidarity, and for the power of the NEU trade union staff group, parents, and campaigners standing together.”
Reed said at the conference the UK government had been slow to respond to some examples of anti-Israel extremism, and promised Labour had “reassessed” this approach.
Since winning his seat at the last election, Egan has been targeted by anti-Israel activists. He has an Israeli husband, the software developer Yossi Felberbaum.
The investigative newsroom the Bristol Cable reported the cancellation in November when an NEU member at another Bristol school described a “flurry of organising” including a plan for people to wear keffiyehs for the day of the visit.
Neither Egan nor the school have commented.
