Pontypridd MP terrified by pro-Palestine activists

A government minister was “terrified” after being confronted by two pro-Palestine activists while campaigning, a court has heard.

Alex Davies-Jones said she felt “scared and intimidated” after being approached by Ayeshah Behit, 31, and Hiba Ahmed, 26, both from Treforest, Rhondda Cynnon Taf.

Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed had leaflets describing the MP for Pontypridd as a “full-blown supporter of this genocide” in Gaza.

Ms Davies-Jones, a justice minister, was approached while leafletting in the defendants’ hometown on 26 June last year ahead of the general election – Ms Ahmed and Ms Ahmed deny their actions amounted to harassment.

Ms Davies-Jones said she was asked questions “around the conflict in Israel and Palestine and my conduct as an MP, if I had taken part in votes, membership of organisations such as Labour Friends of Israel”.

“They asked me about the ceasefire and why I had abstained. I clarified I hadn’t abstained, I wasn’t in the country, I was paired in that vote,” she added.

“It was escalating in terms of passion and intensity. We walked off in the opposite direction. We felt scared and intimidated and we wanted to leave the situation.

“They began to follow us. They were shouting and bellowing down the street at us – ‘why do you support genocide, why are you murdering babies, Alex Davies-Jones, do you support genocide?”‘

Ms Davies-Jones said the two defendants also handed out leaflets and put posters on the Labour office in Pontypridd that referred to politicians “enabling genocide”.

She told the court their actions left her feeling “terrified” and a video of the confrontation was uploaded on to social media with the caption, describing Ms Davies-Jones as racist, was “manipulated in a way that made it seem I had lied”.

Ms Davies-Jones said, as a result of the incident, she reduced campaigning sessions and had to be accompanied by close protection officers.

Ms Ahmed said she and Ms Behit wanted to raise awareness of Ms Davies-Jones’s actions on Palestine ahead of the election and had planned to hand out and post leaflets that afternoon when they saw their MP coming towards them.

Ms Ahmed said she filmed the video “because I thought nobody would believe me” adding that “it felt like a really normal conversation between people who don’t agree on something”.

Ms Behit told the court “it was never about Alex as a person… part of her job as an MP is having people look at her policies, her opinions and how she voted,” she said.

Their trial continues.