Naz Shah MP quits role over Israel post on Facebook

Naz Shah won the Bradford West seat for Labour in 2015

A Labour MP has stepped down as an aide to the shadow chancellor over a Facebook post suggesting Israel should be moved to the United States.

Naz Shah has apologised for sharing the graphic showing Israel's outline superimposed onto a map of the US with the comment "problem solved".

It was shared in 2014, before she became Bradford West MP.

The Board of Deputies said the post, highlighted by the Guido Fawkes political website, was "appalling".

The graphic said relocating Israel would be a "solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict", and that it would allow Palestinians to "get their life and their land back".

In a statement, Ms Shah said: "This post from two years ago was made before I was an MP, does not reflect my views and I apologise for any offence it has caused."

Labour confirmed she had stepped down as Parliamentary Private Secretary - an unpaid backbench assistant - to shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

In a second statement, the MP said: "I made these posts at the height of the Gaza conflict in 2014, when emotions were running high around the Middle East conflict.

"But that is no excuse for the offence I have given, for which I unreservedly apologise."

She said she would be expanding her "existing engagement and dialogue with Jewish community organisations and will be stepping up my efforts to combat all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism".

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the comments were "simply appalling", calling for an urgent meeting "for clarification of her views on Israel and the UK Jewish community".