Mothin Ali said, ‘This is a win for the people of Gaza’ in his acceptance speech and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ after winning a council seat in Leeds on Friday.
Newly-elected Green Party councillor Mothin Ali has apologised for comments he made about the Israel-Hamas war, amid calls for him to resign.
In footage of his victory speech posted to Mr. Ali’s TikTok account on Friday, the Leeds City Council representative said: “We will not be silent. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!”
“This is a win for the people of Gaza,” Mr. Ali said, standing in front of a Palestinian flag.
Issuing a statement through Leeds Green Party on Tuesday, the council representative said he was “sorry for any upset my comments caused about the Gaza conflict. That was not my intention.”
Mr. Ali said that he had been “deeply impacted” by the conflict in the Middle East.
“I do not support violence on either side: violence leads to more violence and this is what I have tried to convey,” he said.
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Mr. Ali had been elected in the Giphon and Harehills ward, winning with 3,070 votes, beating his Labour Party rival by 747.
Criticism ‘Suggests Islamophobia’
He added that he has “consistently called for an immediate ceasefire and a release of all hostages” and that he hoped to work with a “broad coalition including both the Jewish and Muslim Greens soon to discuss sensible ways for us to work on communicating our shared passion of bringing the conflict to an end.”
The Green Party councillor also criticised the coverage of his acceptance speech, saying the reporting had been inaccurate and “has led to me being subject to a lot of hate and hostility.”
“I should also make clear that it is not unusual for somebody of my faith to use the words ‘Allahu Akbar’ as an expression of gratitude and celebration,” Mr. Ali said.
“Some have sought to misrepresent this and it suggests Islamophobia to me,” he said.
The councillor said that he has consistently spoke up for the communities he now represents “and on the issue of Palestine, which I will continue to do.”
Calls for Suspension After Social Media Posts Resurface
The apology comes amid calls from Leeds Jewish Representative Council (LJRC) for the Green Party to suspend Mr. Ali, saying that a number of the councillor’s historical social media posts exposed “views which are concerning to the Jewish community.”
In a letter written on Monday to Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, Simon Myerson, KC, the LJRC’s chairman, cited a since-deleted post on TikTok in which Mr. Ali suggested in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 terror attack that Palestinians had a right to “fight back” against Israel.
In the video post, Mr. Ali called Israel a “settler colonial occupier,” declaring: “They’re not victims. They’re occupiers.”
He then urged followers to “support Palestine, support the rights of indigenous people to have freedom and to fight back against occupiers.”
Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer (L) and Adrian Ramsey (R) during the party's local election campaign launch in Bristol on April 4, 2024. (PA Wire)In another TikTok post, also deleted, he called University of Leeds’s Jewish chaplain Rabbi Zechariah Deutsch a “far-right radical” and a “kind of animal” because he had gone to Israel after the terror attack to fight with the Israeli Defence Forces.
Rabbi Deutsch, his wife, and children were forced into hiding in February after they received threats to their safety.
“I am asking you to formally suspend Mr Ali as a Green Party member,” Mr. Myerson asked Ms. Denyer and Mr. Ramsay in the letter published to social media platform X.
He continued: “It is wholly wrong that your party should seek to benefit from his views and his behaviour. It is antithetical to the ethics of which you boast. It is nothing more than hypocrisy. You should act, immediately, and explain yourselves thereafter.”
The Green Party told PA Media that it was investigating the context around this matter and has nothing more to add at this moment.
The Epoch Times has contacted the Green Party for comment.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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