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?