Green Party faces antisemitism probe after new councillor shouts 'Allahu akbar'

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, News Reporter

Mothin Ali won a seat on Leeds City Council yesterday (Image: Green Party. )

The Green Party is set to face a probe from the Government's independent adviser on antisemitism after a councillor shouted "Allahu akbar", meaning God is greatest, following his election.

Mothin Ali won a seat on Leeds City Council on Friday and described his victory as a "win for the people of Gaza" after previously being involved in the harassment of a Jewish university chaplain driven from his home.

Two others who won seats in Bristol had been involved in social media posts which led the city’s Labour Party to raise concerns the Greens were becoming a haven for antisemitism.

The Jewish press has also taken umbrage at a number of anti-Israel comments made by a Green councillor in Peterborough.

Now Lord Mann will explore the possibility of the Green Party suspending or withdrawing the whip from the elected councillors and improving its candidate selection and vetting over the conduct of its councillors.

Ali won a seat on Leeds City Council (Image: Getty)

Ali heard the election results while wearing a keffiyeh, the scarf symbolic of Palestinian resistance.

He then celebrated his victory in Leeds by raising his arm in the air and saying: “We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu akbar."

He was already known for controversial comments to Rabbi Zacheria Deutsch, an Israel Defence Force (IDF) reservist and the Jewish chaplain at Leeds University, who was advised by police to go into hiding with his wife and two children after death and rape threats.

Ali, a prolific YouTuber, ranted on social media: “This creep, that’s the only way I can describe him, is someone who went from Leeds to Israel to kill children and women and everyone else over there”.

He told Leeds University: “You should be protecting students from this kind of animal, because if he’s willing to kill people over there, how do you know he’s not going to kill your students over here?”

Lord Mann wrote to the Greens last month about social media activity by some of their candidates in Bristol.