Layla Moran accepts Richard Madeley’s apology after ‘vile’ Gaza question

Richard Madeley has had his apology accepted after a ‘vile’ question (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)

An MP who has extended family in Gaza has accepted an apology from Richard Madeley after he asked if there was ‘any word on the street’ ahead of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The Israel-Hamas conflict began 11 days ago when Hamas terrorists took dozens of hostages and attacked a music festival in southern Israel.

At least 1,400 people were killed, many of them civilians, and thousands more injured, while more than 2,700 Palestinians have since died after Israel launched air strikes on Gaza.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain earlier this week to discuss the conflict, British Palestinian MP Layla Moran was questioned over whether she had been made aware of Hamas’ terror attack before it unfolded.

Viewers quickly slammed his question, with some labelling it ‘vile and offensive’, leading to Richard to apologise via a GMB spokesperson.

Now Moran has said she’s accepted the apology, saying the question came from a ‘place of ignorance’ but wasn’t asked with any malice.

Earlier this week MP Layla Moran was asked if she knew of Hamas’ planned terror attacks ahead of time (Picture: ITV)

During an appearance on Sky News’ Politics Hub programme on Wednesday, the politician said it was obvious she was taken aback watching her reaction afterwards.

‘I think my face at the time looked pretty flummoxed,’ she said.

‘Look, the conversation as a whole over the 15-minute interview was an important one. We were looking at how we got here, where we go.

‘I didn’t feel and don’t feel that it came from a place of malice. I think it frankly came from a place of perhaps ignorance.’

The Good Morning Britain host later apologised through a spokesperson (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)

She continued: ‘Perhaps it reminds us that in this conflict, which is complicated — this is not the slam dunk in a way that Russia-Ukraine was – this has a long history that needs to be understood and this has an important context in the wider region that needs to be understood.

‘I have accepted his apology. The main thing is that I don’t want it to distract from these big issues.’

In Parliament on Monday, Moran spoke about her extended family, who are Christian Palestinians living in Gaza City, having their house bombed by the Israel Defence Forces and being forced to seek refuge in a church due to being ‘too old’ to flee the 25-mile strip.

When speaking to Madeley on GMB, he had asked her: ‘With your family connections in Gaza, did you have any indication of what was going to happen 10 days ago, two weeks ago? Was there any word on the street?’

At the time she replied: ‘Not this, not this. I think everyone… everyone has been surprised by, first of all, partly the timing, the sophistication (and) the way that it’s happened.

‘What I will say is that I have been warning, and others have in Parliament as well, for a number of years now that if we don’t find a way… The fact of the matter is there has not been a (negotiating) table, let alone to go back to a negotiating table, for at least 10 years now.

‘This is a cycle of violence and every time there is a cycle of violence, my worry now is that this is radicalising another generation, on all sides.’

A GMB spokesperson later said that the host was ‘sorry that he has upset viewers with his question to Layla Moran’.

‘His intention was to understand the mood and atmosphere amongst the civilian population of Gaza immediately before the attacks.’

They went on to say Madeley ‘did not mean to imply that she or her family might have had any prior knowledge of the attacks’.

Metro.co.uk has contacted ITV and representatives for Richard Madeley for comment.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.

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‘I think it frankly came from a place of perhaps ignorance.’