AIBU to be concerned about Green candidates and antisemitism?

[Twiglets1]

Ironically, given that the Green party is led by a Jewish man, the party has become home to political candidates causing distress and fear for many in the Jewish community.

Dr Phil Brookes, the Green Party candidate for Manor Park, Newcastle stated in a social media post that “it takes serious effort not to be a tiny bit anti-Semitic”.

Then there’s Sabine Mairey, the Green candidate for Clapham Town in south London. She posted a video on social media stating that a terrorist attack on a synagogue was “not anti-Semitism” but “revenge”.

Councillor Hau-Yu Tam is the Green candidate in the Deptford ward of Lewisham. She has expressed support for her “brilliant comrade and lawyer” Franck Magennis whose law firm Riverway to the Sea has sought the de-proscription of Hamas – the anti-Semitic terrorist group responsible for the mass murder and rape of October 7. She said she was extremely proud of Magennis for “blazing the way on this intervention”.

Ifhat Shaheen is a Green candidate in Stoke Newington. She has defended the October 7 attacks and suggested that Israel is harvesting organs from Palestinians.

Also in London is council candidate Saiqa Ali who posted an image of the Earth being strangled by a snake clothed in an Israeli flag, accompanied by the caption “It’s time to cut the head of this snake”.

Chandni Chopra is the Green Party candidate for Heaton, Newcastle. She has questioned whether Hamas used rape during their attacks despite the horrific evidence and previously described Zionism as a “mental illness”.

A second irony is that many Green Party voters will pride themselves on their anti-racist credentials. Why then is there growing support for a party whose candidates expressed such overt racism towards one of Britain’s minority communities?

Yup. The PP who said we should lay aside UK concerns to vote to protect Palestinians. Once our councillors have solved the Palestinian problem will they then move onto UK issues, or will it them be South Sudan? Plight of women in Afghanistan? Etc etc.

At what point will we be allowed to have politicians whose main concern is sorting out the country that we actually live in?

I disagree with you here, Im passionately internationalist and believe we can focus on both. What I object to is the irrational focus on one country alone, motivated by racism.

It's also some fucking nerve given what Hamas did to children, on purpose, on October 7 and afterwards in captivity.

I suggest nobody looks up what they did to the Bibas babies if you ever want to sleep again.

I can't quite articulate why, but it's always struck me as a really egotistical take. Somehow, "I am on the right side of history" rings differently to "I am doing what I believe to be the right thing."

Perhaps it's because if you are motivated by trying to do right rather than to see yourself as a great person in history whose rightness can only be proven, you are more likely to change your mind if things develop in such a way that would make that appropriate. Because it's not about "I am right", which is about me, it's about, "I want to do the right thing", which leaves it open as a possibility that you might change your mind, as history develops, as to what the right thing is. Because it's about that right thing, not you.

Hamas gets a free pass.

If this gets pointed out are we get told either to stop going on about Hamas or that they are terrorists (though so are the IDF according to them) so obviously we don’t expect anything from them…

I bet and I won’t look it up, just awful.

Don't.

It didn't even end with their murders, and their mother's.

So, so awful. I think about what’s happening in places like Sudan, I recall a woman describing how she saved her DDs and see what’s going on with protestors in Iran. It’s heartbreaking but for some reason becomes contentious so no point in posting about it.

These horrors, these atrocities, appear to be invisible 😢

They are terrifying. I don't know why so many people are supporting them. If you are horrified by the attacks on Jews in this country - everything from terrorist murder to abuse in the streets and ripping down pictures of hostages held by Hamas - I don't see how you can possibly support The Green Party.

Or that Jews are always playing victim.

I do wonder if it ever occurs to Polanski how long he'd last under Hamas.

I'm baffled by that too! Apparently some people just side with anybody who opposes Israel. I don't know how they square in their own minds how chucking gay men off tall buildings is acceptable.

In our city centre I saw a banner "Gays for Palestine".
I would have laughed if it hadn't been so tragic.

I think it's a kind of intellectual superiority. They underestimate people with extreme religious beliefs because they think they are only brutal murderers because of imperialism and oppression, and once they have been released from it by them they will be so grateful they will bow to their vision. In reality they end up being shown up for the useful idiots they are. If they are lucky they will be sidelined once they've flag waved fascists into power. At worst they are executed, which would happen in Palestine.

Looked this up after reading your comment:

Gaza Strip
The Islamist militant group Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2006,and has controlled the territory since then. In Gaza, Hamas has criminalized homosexuality, and LGBTQ+ individuals risk incarceration, torture, and execution. Gaza under Hamas offers no possibility to live a queer life: lashings and "honour" killings point to the aggressive enforcement of anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_in_Palestine#:~:text=In%20Gaza%2C%20Hamas%20has%20criminalized,enforcement%20of%20anti%2DLGBTQ%2B%20policies.

Fair point, @Desperatelyseekinglazysusan .
These groups that they excuse - like Hamas, Hezbollah etc are fascist groups, but they don't seem to see that.
I remember that poor Iranian man on one of those marches, being attacked by the others for his banner "Hamas is Terrorist". They just couldn't tolerate that. They turned on him. Fortunately the police were there.

I personally think there is extreme naievity in our country caused by having it so easy for so long. Alot of people seem to think the rest of the worlds people are like them and any conflict/problems is not the responsibility of the people who live there/their government but is always the West's fault. It is partly the medias fault (eg BBC etc) for feeding them propaganda.

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/my-synagogue-is-seen-as-too-dangerous-for-kids-72ndg5cdb

An article in The Times by the excellent Hadley Freeman. Zack Polanski is not a good guy.

Unfortunately, it's behind a paywall, @Lovelyview . Can you summarise?

Curiously that he was suspendes and others who have said similar or worse weren't. Maybe having a famous wife makes it harder to brush it under the carpet.

Yes that's what I thought. They have told others to delete their social media, as if that makes their views go away, but have sacked this guy!

I think Polanski has been getting a lot of heat for the antisemitic comments made by Green candidates and even he seems to realise now that he has to distance himself from it a bit. Plus yes, the famous wife will have made this idiot's comments more visible.