The Green Party was this week crowned as the new haven for foaming antisemites. Although this isn’t a new phenomenon, the extent of the problem increased with last week’s local elections.
Mothin Ali, swathed in the uniform of ovine supporters of Palestinian resistance who ignore the terrorism of Hamas, the keffiyah, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar!’ when he won his seat on Leeds council. While this in itself is not always a sign of antisemitism, his previous hounding of a Jewish chaplain at Leeds University is. Rabbi Deutsch, a citizen of Israel, was called up to fight in the war after the pogrom by Hamas in the kibbutzim in Israel last October. Ali took great exception to this, ranting on social media that Deutsch had gone ‘to kill children and women and everyone else’ in Gaza, calling him ‘an animal’, and suggesting that he might kill students in Leeds. As a result, Deutsch received death threats and rape threats against his wife, and the couple and their two children were advised to go into hiding. What kind of a country are we when a Chaplain who has dedicated his life to helping students and working as a peaceable Rabbi is suddenly confronted with the real possibility of his own and his family’s murder or violent violation, and the response from those charged with public safety is telling them to *hide*?
Ali was previously Labour and a great admirer of Corbyn, and it seems the Green Party offered an opportunity to attain some power. But he is not the only idiot bigot to win a seat last week. Abdul Malik, another previous Labour Corbynite turned Green who won a seat last week (in Bristol) seemed to post support for Hamas on social media, although he denies it. The Greens say he was ‘unwittingly tagged into the post.’ Hmmm. Mohamed Makawi was also elected as a Green councillor in Bristol last week. He has wriiten social media posts referring darkly to ‘the Zionist enemy police’ and alleged that the Hamas pogrom on October 7th was ‘an American Zionist lie.’
Are the Greens happy with having conspiracy theorist bigots and liars in their local councils? Anyone who denies the pogrom is either a liar or deluded, and both dishonesty and insanity would seem to preclude an individual from holding a powerful post on a local council.
A newly elected councillor for the Greens in Peterborough has also made social media comments insulting Israel. Meanwhile, another Green councillor, previously ousted from Labour for antisemitism, has previously described Zionists as ‘common thieves. Willing to massacre thousands.’
Let’s remember that the definition of a Zionist is simply someone who believes in the right of Israel to exist. It would seem, then, that those who write posts condemning ‘Zionists’ hold tight to the Hamas aim of eliminating the state of Israel by murdering all the Jews.
Lord Mann, the government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, is planning to talk to the Green Party about these councillors. How were they ever allowed to stand? More than 40 local councillors made the war in Gaza a part of their campaign.
Meanwhile, a Muslim pressure group has presented Keir Starmer with a list of 18 demands, including cutting military ties with Israel. Other demands include apologising for not calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza war, and allowing Muslim pupils to pray at school. One hopes that Starmer will not bend to these bullying demands.
There should surely be rules against those who openly espouse hatred of any group of people rising to power, either locally or nationally. The UK used to be a haven for those fleeing Islamist extremism and looking for a secular country where hate would not be propagated against them. No longer.
The Greens have and will always be cranks in this country.