Tharoor removed from pro-Palestine event amid row over his Hamas remarks

The Mahal Empowerment Mission (MEM), an organisation of Muslim Jamaaths functioning in Thiruvananthapuram, on Friday decided to remove senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor from its Palestine solidarity event scheduled on October 30.

The MEM of the Jamaaths from 100 wards in the city corporation, took the decision in the wake of the controversy over Tharoor's recent statement at a Palestine solidarity rally organised by the Indian Union Muslim League a day ago, in which he said the October 7 attack on Israel was a terrorist strike.

"We have communicated to Tharoor that we have decided to remove him from the programme," MEM president Shajahan Sreekaryam told PTI.

Facing an intense social media attack, Tharoor has issued a clarification, saying he has always been with the people of Palestine and he does not agree with the propagation of just one sentence from his speech at the IUML rally.

The IUML, a key ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, organised a massive rally in northern Kozhikode on Thursday, denouncing the reported indiscriminate killings of civilians, including women and children, in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of IUML supporters took part in the Palestine Solidarity Human Rights rally, inaugurated by IUML leader Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal.

Tharoor, who was the chief guest, said innocent women and children suffered casualties, initially in Israel and subsequently in Gaza, and emphasised the imperative of ending this conflict.

In unequivocal terms, Tharoor also condemned the attack carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7, describing it as an 'act of terror'.