The Greens are investigating more than 30 council candidates for alleged anti-Semitism, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The shocking figure makes a mockery of party claims that only a ‘handful’ of those standing in tomorrow’s local elections had made hateful comments – and that all of these had been ‘dealt with’.
The Greens’ leadership has in fact been forced to fast-track dozens of internal probes after a string of ‘vile’ social media posts by candidates.
Campaigners said the revelation is expected to be ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ and accused party leader Zack Polanski of turning a blind eye to ‘open Jew hate and Hamas love’ by members.
It comes after this newspaper exposed how Green candidates had claimed Israelis and Jews were ‘cockroaches’ and were behind the October 7 and 9/11 atrocities, and that a terrorist who stabbed two Jews to death in 2016 was a ‘martyr’.
Two women standing for the party in London wards were also arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after allegations they posted claims that ramming a synagogue full of children was ‘revenge’ rather than anti-Semitism, and shared a picture of a Hamas terrorist alongside the slogan ‘resistance is freedom’.
Our investigation came as:
The scandal comes amid a surge of attacks on Jews in recent weeks. Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, last week and there has been a spate of attacks at synagogues and other Jewish sites.
And a fire at a disused synagogue due to be converted into a mosque was yesterday being treated as a targeted crime against the Jewish community.
Green Party leader Zac Polanski, pictured with candidate Ifhat Shaheen, who has been accused of writing posts defending the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023
A Green Party source told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a growing realisation among early party members that this has gone too far and action had to be taken.’
Normally complaints are dealt with by the party’s disciplinary committee which can take several months.
But amid widespread condemnation from all sides, the party has introduced an accelerated disciplinary process being conducted by members of the Green’s National Council, which is elected by party members, the source said.
Some of those being investigated have been given ‘no-fault suspensions’ while the probe is carried out.
But there have been breaches of these – astonishingly including some attending a Greens For Palestine group event where the party’s deputy leader, Mothin Ali, encouraged them to take legal action against it over the handling of candidate suspensions.
Selection for council candidates is carried out by the local Green parties, who are also responsible for any vetting.
But the party source also blamed Mr Polanski for tolerating a surge of anti-Semitic or Hamas-sympathising posts by new members and even senior party members.
‘I think Polanski’s actions are all about his ego. He knows what he’s saying. But he’s getting caught out now, on both sides.
‘As well as those starting to raise the alarm about anti-Semitism, pro-Palestinians are questioning how much he is one of their kind of people.’
The source said many were also concerned about deputy leader Mr Ali, who posted a defence of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on the day of the atrocity.
It has also emerged that over the last six months, Mr Polanski has liked posts on Left-wing social media site Bluesky, which said Sir Keir was receiving money from ‘Zionist philanthropists’ and that asked: ‘How much does Israel pay him?’
Lord Pickles, a former Special Envoy on Post-Holocaust Issues, said: ‘The leadership of the Green Party cynically exploited the conflict in Gaza for narrow political gain.
‘They have helped spread anti-Semitism deeper into British society and show a callous indifference to the fear stalking our streets.’
Reform Leader Nigel Farage said: ‘The Greens will take us to sectarian hell… No Jew will be safe.’
Green candidate Kamel Hawwash said of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks that ‘occupied people have the right to resist the occupation’
Steve Reed, Labour’s Communities Secretary, said: ‘This isn’t one or two bad apples. This is serial hatred from candidates hand-picked by Zack Polanski and the Green Party to represent them at the ballot box.
‘Polanski can’t stay silent on these abhorrent candidates. He needs to take action against them, withdraw his support and boot them out of the party.’
Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel stated: ‘The Greens have a major anti-Semitism problem. At a time of rising hatred against Jewish people, Green Party candidates are fanning the flames of the world’s oldest hatred.
‘Their leader Zack Polanski should be condemning them and ridding his party of this bile, but instead he is fuelling the fire.’
A Green Party spokesman said: ‘We are standing over 4,500 candidates in these local elections, the vast majority of whom we are proud to have represent us.
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DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The vile Jew-hatred running deep within the Green Party
‘Where there are examples brought to our attention that do not align with the values of the Green Party, we are looking into them, and in some cases candidates have already been suspended.
‘We are investing in strengthening our vetting procedures to prevent inappropriate candidates slipping through the net.’
He added: ‘Candidates who are under investigation have been asked not to campaign.’
It comes after the Prime Minister convened senior figures from various sectors in No10 on Monday to discuss how to tackle widespread anti-Jewish hatred in Britain.
And prosecutors have been told to fast-track hate crime prosecutions under new guidance issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson in the wake of ‘a deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the country’.
Rants, conspiracies and sick excuses for Hamas slaughter
By Natalie Lisbona and Tom Kelly
These are just a few of the Green Party candidates accused of posting and sharing anti-Semitic comments online.
A Green Party spokesman said: ‘Where there are examples brought to our attention that do not fit in with the views of the Green Party, we are looking into them.’
Ifhat Shaheen: Council – Stoke Newington, north London
On the day of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Shaheen – using an account in the name Ifhat Smith – defended the killing of almost 1,200 people, mass rape and the kidnapping of 240 civilians, as Palestinians trying to ‘defend themselves’.
She also shared – with an applause emoji – a post describing the unfolding atrocities in Israel as a Palestinian ‘fightback’ against ‘Zionist oppression’.
Months after the attack she posted the conspiracy theory that Hamas was not responsible for all the deaths and that some victims had been shot from Israeli helicopters.
More recently she has reposted and supported claims that no women were raped in the attacks, despite the UN finding that ‘sexual violence’ including rape and gang rape occurred in ‘multiple locations’.
Mark Bittlestone: Lambeth, south London
The privately-educated Cambridge graduate, a comedian and a teacher in a London secondary school, reposted material suggesting the October 7 atrocities were a covert ‘false flag’ attack by Israel.
He has also shared posts describing Israel as a ‘colony of inbreds, rapists and thieves’ and that Zionism is a cult that ‘consent to murder children’ for US-Israeli lobbying cash.
And he reposted claims that Israel should be invaded because it has no right to exist and that Labour’s lack of criticism for Israel is a ‘silence bought by donations’.
Professor Kamel Hawwash: Stirchley, Birmingham
The now retired academic called the October 7 attacks an ‘operation’, adding ‘occupied people have the right to resist the occupation’. He also claimed that Hamas’s ‘atrocities committed against civilians in the settlements’ were ‘not the objectives of the attack’.
Clarissa Astor: Westminster, central London
Posted a picture of Princess Diana doctored to show her wearing Palestinian clothing and shared a propaganda image of a Hamas terrorist being kissed by an Israeli hostage.
She also claimed British police are ‘in the service of Zionism’ and posted a picture of the Israeli prime minister sporting a Hitler moustache. Mrs Astor apologised for ‘any offence and upset’ and deleted the posts.
Mark Adderley: Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood, south London
Suspended from the Green Party over ‘anti-Semitic rants’ comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and blaming Mossad for carrying out terror attacks against Jews.
He regularly uploads content to his YouTube channel, flanked by his wife, Loose Women star Nadia Sawahla in which he shares his views on Israel and its government.
In one he said: ‘The weirdest thing about the maps of history, when you look at how Hitler expanded Germany, or sought to expand Germany, it’s almost a complete identikit to what [Israeli prime minister, Binyamin] Netanyahu, is doing in the Middle East.’
He added: ‘Israel is the biggest threat to the sovereignty of every nation on this planet because they are ‘the chosen people’. Deluded. It’s a cult, it’s just a cult.’
In the same video, which has since been deleted, he speculated that Charlie Kirk was killed, not by suspect Tyler Robinson, but by Mossad or the CIA. ‘It’s the same f****** thing – CIA, Mossad, everything is hermetically sealed.’ The Green Party has said the videos do not represent the views of the party.
Mark Adderley, pictured with his wife, Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha, was suspended from the Green Party over a series of ‘anti-Semitic rants’
Hau-Yu Tam shared a post saying Zionism was ‘unquestionably the Nazism of our time’
Atikur Rahman: Tyseley and Hay Mills, Birmingham
The civil servant liked a video claiming that Israel was ‘attacking the UK’ by funding last summer’s riots and far-Right thug Tommy Robinson.
He also liked a post from a lawyer representing the singer Bob Vylan, who had sparked fury by chanting ‘death to the IDF’ at the Glastonbury Festival.
The post claimed that ‘all [Vylan] did was raise alert to the genocide in Gaza given that so many were deaf to the crimes of the IDF’.
Mr Rahman also reacted to a LinkedIn post commemorating dead Israelis with the ‘finds this funny’ response.
He later liked a post condemning the memorial, which branded it ‘political’ and added: ‘I do not share these sentiments… I ALWAYS AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE IN SUPPORT OF THE LIBERATION OF ALL PALESTINIANS’.
Mr Rahman, who is understood to be being investigated by the Home Office over his social media activity, said: ‘I am horrified to learn that I might have selected the wrong reaction to a post.
‘Any interactions I have on social media are not intended as endorsements or agreement. During my time in the Civil Service, I adhered to the Civil Service Code and carried out my duties impartially, with professionalism and integrity. I will engage appropriately with any process in the background.’
Aziz Hakimi: Camden, north London
Reposted content blaming ‘Zionists’ for the terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001. He also shared a post claiming that arson attacks on four Jewish charity ambulances last month were a ‘false flag’.
Feda Shahin: Bournemouth
Falsely claimed that in the Soviet Union ‘the Zionists killed 20million Christians’ and that they ‘love genocide’.
Hau-Yu Tam: Lewisham, south London
Just days after posing alongside Zack Polanski as he welcomed her to the Greens last March after she defected from Labour, Hau-Yu Tam shared a post saying Zionism was ‘undoubtedly, unquestionably the Nazism of our time’.
The Green Party said: ‘These comments do not reflect the views of the party.’
