Lib Dem quits over 'offensive' social media posts

Complaints were made after Joyce Onstad reshared a series of posts on X

A woman who was expected to become the next Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Southend West in Essex, was suspended from the party and later resigned over what she called “anti-Zionist” remarks.

Joyce Onstad said a series of social media posts she shared had been “conflated” with antisemitism and that she would no longer be “intimidated” or “silenced”.

Complaints were made when Ms Onstad reshared a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which described the Israeli government as a “2020s version of Nazism”.

Ms Onstad has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

'Great offence'

Ms Onstad stood to become a Southend-on-Sea city councillor in May 2023, but was not elected in the Blenheim Park ward.

On 14 February she took to X to confirm her resignation from the Liberal Democrat Party. She wrote: “Certain people in the party have taken great offence at the vehemence and ferocity of my stance in the fight to end the genocide in Palestine and have conflated my anti-Zionist position with antisemitism, which is clearly absurd.”

She went on to write: “Occupied people everywhere have a right to self defence under international law and while they should seek peaceful means to end conflicts, when that fails they cannot be expected to lie down and die.”

Ms Onstad joined the Liberal Democrats in 2015 and became a member of its federal board two years later.

The party said it would now be appointing a new candidate to fight the election in Southend West.

A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats said: "Ms Onstad was suspended from the party following formal complaints about her conduct. She resigned from the party before facing an independent disciplinary panel.

"The posts she had shared on social media were grossly offensive, unacceptable and have no place within the Liberal Democrats."

Ms Onstad has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.