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?

Just been reading his reaction to being suspended from the Green party and the lack of self awareness is pathetic.

He said he was 'truly, deeply, viscerally disgusted' by the decision, adding that he had spent his 'entire life fighting racism in all its forms'.

No wonder so few people self identify as antisemitic if they don't recognise it in themselves or others even while spewing out words comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

Still, at least the Green party did suspend him. We should be grateful for that I guess given the candidates they have allowed to remain.

It's limited thinking though, and it's political understanding based on chants and banners and slogans. Most of us know that it's a very complicated geo - political issue which has a history of war, peace agreements and border changes. I recently decided to read up on the deals brokered by Carter and Clinton. Complicated doesn't describe it.
Some people just like a binary approach to global issues. It's rarely informative or useful.

Interesting that he didn’t have the good sense to say something bland like ‘Suspension is a neutral act. I look forward to the investigation being completed in a timely manner.’

His reaction belied any good sense, though. Or the ability to listen and understand advice.

Agree it's a very complicated geo-political issue. Trouble is lots of people seem to get their information from Tik Tok or other social media these days, and think stuff must be true if said by someone who gets a lot of likes or followers. Herd mentality but it's easier than doing the research yourself and forming your own opinion based on boring facts.

His mental health and alcoholism are well documented by Nadia so you are not dealing with someone rational and sensible . Anyone persuaded by anything he has to say must be as unwell as him.

And he's a person who is thought by the Greens to have the makings of an MP?

I find his wife's reaction rather surprising too, given that she has a career that relies on not being too controversial.

Rather than just keeping out of a row over antisemitism as someone in the public eye would be well advised to do, Nadia waded in with her opinion. She said that her husband is in the 'punishment phase' of 'bravely [speaking] up for the Palestinians in a way very few people' have 'the courage' to do.

To clarify, the problem was not Mark Adderley speaking up for Palestinians.

The problem was the way he used antisemitic language to do so.

Absolutely. It's the language he used and what he claimed. I'm astonished that the Greens considered him for MP. I'm surprised at Nadia, as well. You'd think she'd be more circumspect.

Can we all agree that the Green’s stance on gender is in no way ‘progressive’? Taking rights from women and giving them to men is not progress. Seeking to stop gender confused children from discussing their confusion with therapists is not ‘progress’ its child abuse.

There are many reasons why I find Green Party members - and those who vote for them - utterly abhorrent.

Yes, they are dangerous on this.

They are barking mad as is anyone who supports them .

This is not an area I have been following closely @Flossette to be transparent.

But - I do agree with the UK Supreme Court's ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under the Equality Act.

It follows from this that transgender women, who are biologically male but identify as women, can be excluded from women-only spaces. I agree with the guidance issued by the EHRC following the Court ruling that while trans women should not be permitted to use women's facilities in hospitals etc, they should not be left with no facilities to use. I note that many places offer the option of unisex toilets now (including the school I used to work at).

It seems I disagree with the Greens on this issue too.

Antisemites who want knobs out in women's changing rooms, and who deny it when murderous antisemites also commit sexual violence against Jewish women. What could possibly go wrong?

The language he used is absolutely vile.
Is there any other geopolitical conflict in the world where those who choose to support one side indulge in such unrestrained vitriol against everyone on the other side?

A lot of what is espoused is regressive. They shouldn’t get the branding a progressive party.

Destroying women's rights and hating Jews are such new, groundbreaking concepts. Has anyone ever done it before?

To be serious, I think what is new is the rebranding of anti-feminism & antisemitism, to bring them openly & proudly into the 'progressive' mainstream. Before, their existence was a blind eye or brush under the carpet issue that would be resolved in time. Now they are saying that to be progressive you actively need to reject the old principles.

it’s disgusting that 26% of posters on this thread aren’t concerned about Green candidates and antisemitism when it’s blatantly happening right in front of them! Idiots!

It’s just profoundly confusing that anti-semitism has become trendy . Where has it come from? Is it just that the Holocaust was a very long time ago and is thus meaningless to today’s young people? But that doesn’t explain all those retired protesters you see waving their pro-Pal scarves. I went to the theatre recently and was sitting next to some older ladies (with exceedingly smelly jumpers I must say) and they were agreeing how much they loved the Greens and “Zack”. Idiots.

Its been building for a long time. I dont think dislike or distrust of Jews really went away but because its a tiny community for few people know any Jewish people so there weren't many flaspoints to test it. As you say the Holocaust was a long time ago. It was easy to be sympathatic to Jews who suffered in the Holocaust (see people Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn) without engaging with Jews in the present. And then gradually postcolonialsim and critical race theory etc etc recast Israel as a colonial state, Jews as white, at the same time as the Left/progressives became more stalinist in their policing of thought so there was no room for nuance or empathy in any debate, not just this one. I've missed a lot out, but that seems to be the bare bones of it, to me. Many of the older Greens are old school lefties chucked out of or left the Labour Party. They also imbibed the old Soviet antisemitism. Trouble is there is a historic well of antisemitism for pretty much every demographic.

recast Israel as a colonial state

So weird. Creating Israel was an act of decolonisation after its native people had been sent into diaspora many years earlier, and ending its status as a British colony. And the plan was for an Arab state next door as well. Why is it only the tiny Jewish state that's so racist and colonial?

And what's with all these people who clearly accept that Jews exist because they throw so many accusations at them and are so racist towards them... but simultaneously don't agree that they are the people who originate from a particular area? What exactly do they think a Jew is?

Not much thinking going on!

Ignorance. People don't inform themselves. What about the creation of Jordan or Lebanon or Syria?
What happened in 1948 and why? Just because it's complicated and nuanced isn't an excuse for ignorance.