North Yorkshire Police arrested suspended Liberal Democrat councillor and former Harrogate mayor Pat Marsh for antisemitic posts on X, according to multiple media reports from Tuesday.
Police confirmed in a statement, “A woman has been arrested in connection with an investigation into antisemitic ‘tweets’ shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. She remains in custody while inquiries continue.” The woman was identified by Jewish News to be Marsh.
Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Nicola Colbourne of Harrogate Neighbourhood Policing Team said “North Yorkshire Police takes hate crime extremely seriously, and we are committed to identifying those responsible.
“We are following all available lines of inquiry and would ask anyone who has any information that could support our investigation, other than seeing the tweets, to please come forward.”
A spokesperson for the Lib Dems the BBC “These appalling antisemitic views have no place in our party, Ms Marsh has been removed from the council group and has been reported to the council’s Standard Officer.”
The BBC reported a day prior that it had been Marsh’s antisemitic posts on X which led to her suspension from her political party.
Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, was cited by the BBC as having said that Marsh should "consider her position. The comments I have seen are outrageous and offensive. I understand a number of complaints have been made to the monitoring officer.
"There is no place in our society, in our county or in our council for discrimination, prejudice or hate in any form.
The antisemitic social media posts
In screenshots shared by the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism, a social media account under Marsh’s name made comments such as “We can’t believe what your Jewish Country is doing to Palestinians it is outrageous, killing children and cutting off their hands and other atrocities do you not feel frightened for them!!!”
In another post, the account published, “This is atrocious and is a war crime; no wonder people are becoming anti-Jewish.”
“How many other people are out there slaughtering babies and children as the Jews are at the moment,” another post read.
CAA became aware of deeply antisemitic remarks, found by a @UKLabour activist, on the social media account of @LibDems Councillor Pat Marsh over a period of time.Within a few hours, we were told that “These appalling antisemitic views have no place in our party, Ms Marsh has… https://t.co/9ILdezTDhi
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) February 19, 2024