UK elections: Palestinian-British candidate's campaign office vandalised

A Palestinian-British independent candidate’s campaign office has been vandalised following weeks of what her campaign describes as orchestrated harassment by pro-Israel activists.

Tanushka Marah is running as an independent candidate in the Sussex coastal seat of Hove and Portslade against incumbent Labour MP Peter Kyle on a left-wing pro-Palestine platform.

Marah’s campaign office was vandalised overnight on Wednesday. Police were called to the scene after campaign volunteers found the office door glued shut and the main sign defaced on Thursday morning, a campaign spokesperson said.

The owner of the building in central Hove is offering a cash reward for information leading to charges and a conviction.

In a statement to Middle East Eye, Marah said: “Our campaign office in Hove has been vandalised following weeks of harassment by pro-Israel activists, secret filming of our events and volunteers, misinformation about me and the campaign, theft of electoral materials and apparent planting of these materials in a supermarket.”

Hove is home to small Jewish and Muslim communities. The incumbent candidate, Labour’s Kyle, abstained on the vote for a ceasefire in Gaza in parliament in November 2023 after party leader Keir Starmer banned his MPs from supporting the motion.

Marah was set to speak at a local Jewish community hustings on 30 June, five days before the general election.

However, the Sussex Jewish Representative Council rescinded her invitation early last week over her "anti-Zionist" views, saying it did not want Marah’s "hate" at its event.

The council cited her appearance at a concert featuring rock musician Roger Waters and rapper Lowkey, who it accused of holding antisemitic views.

Marah denied the accusation.

A campaign spokesperson told MEE that pro-Israel activists recently posted pictures online of campaign leaflets in a kosher section of a Tesco store, claiming without evidence it was the work of the Marah campaign.

Last Friday, pro-Israel activists stood outside a literary event for women of colour holding printed placards displaying Marah’s name and words such as “rape” and “beheading”, Marah told MEE.

“This harassment has now led to a crime against our office and is stirring up communal tensions,” she said.

“We have reported this vandalism to the police, but we will not be diverted from our inclusive, joyful, pro-peace campaign that includes people of all backgrounds. We will not be silenced.”

Marah, a theatre director based in Brighton, is a contributor to MEE.

Her campaign describes her as someone who has "dedicated her career to fostering community engagement through the arts, offering free classes and creating inclusive theatre projects that celebrate diversity and creativity".