Marlene Hassan Nahon, the leader of the Together Gibraltar Party, said that she had been targeted by an "orchestrated campaign" on social media recently, with comments attacking her and her late father, former Gibraltar Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan, negatively highlighting their links with Israel.
"My father was a pragmatic and astute leader who managed to achieve self-governance for a small and powerless territory and nuetralise the threat of fascist Spain," wrote Nahon in a statement shared on Twitter. "He also had to face demagogues stirring nationalist sentiments, and people who tried to exploit the historic challenges face by the people of Gibraltar for their own political interests."
“Of particular concern in the latest barrage of abuse is the age-old antisemitic trope of dual loyalty with Israel that has been lobbed at me for being Jewish,” said Nahon.
Nahon called the accusations "vile propaganda...by plain haters or misguided political activists" and warned that they were "a new and dangerous phenomenon in Gibraltar politics."
Love not hate. Unity not division. Acceptance not discrimination. These are values by which I was raised #Gibraltar pic.twitter.com/vIXqrv0pWO
— Marlene Hassan Nahon MP (@MHassanNahon) September 23, 2020
Chief Minister Fabián Picardo denounced the campaign in a statement on Thursday.
“We must all denounce members of a small minority who disqualify themselves and disappoint all of us by making racist and antisemitic statements about a member of our parliament based on their religion,” said Picardo, according to Algemeiner. “Making racist and antisemitic remarks as part of an alleged political debate is just anathema and alien to the Gibraltar I know and love.”
The Royal Gibraltar Police are investigating whether hate speech laws were breached. Picardo stated that he would be referring the comments and those who made them to the commissioner of police, according to The Olive Press, a Spanish expat newspaper.
Nahon is also the sister of Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who responded to the targeting of her sister on Twitter, writing "My sister @MHassanNahon targeted this week by ignorance and the age-old trope that #Jews cannot be trusted. Proud that she stood up in Parliament and fought back."