Conservative MP John Howell received a series of threatening emails after he spoke out in defence of Israel’s right to protect itself
Counterterrorism police are investigating whether the synagogue attacker Jihad Al-Shamie has previously made death threats to an MP over his position on Israel.
The Conservative MP John Howell received a series of threatening emails after he spoke out in defence of Israel’s right to protect itself, it has been reported.
One letter was sent from a “Jihad Alshamie” who told him that “It is people like you who deserve to die”, however it is unclear if the attacker is the same person who sent the correspondence.
The now former MP John Howell, who represented Henley from 2008 to 2024, was offered police protection and was removed the details of his local office from his website.
At the time, Mr Howell spoke about receiving the letter. He said: “The last thing I want to appear as is a drama queen, but you have to take seriously a threat when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead’.
“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is weird enough, with a distorted view of life, to make an attempt to carry this out.”
Mr Howell praised Thames Valley Police who provided him with “extremely good security advice”. He added: “If I feel at all unsafe there can be a policeman with me at a surgery [district office].”
Speaking on TV earlier today Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Al-Shamie was not under active investigation by counterterrorism police or security services, and had not been referred to Prevent.
Jihad Al-Shamie was shot dead by police yesterday after attacking a synagogue in Manchester. Two other people died in what police have called a terror attack.
The attack took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, on Middleton Road in Crumpsall.