Former leader says antisemitic comments by some election candidates are unacceptable

The former Green leader Caroline Lucas has called for the party to take immediate action against candidates who have made antisemitic comments or posts, following a series of cases before Thursday’s elections.

Lucas, who led or co-led the party for six years and served as its first MP, said that while the number of such cases was limited, they could not be ignored.

“Statements that have now come to light from a handful of @TheGreenParty candidates are totally unacceptable & require immediate action,” she wrote on X. “There’s no place for antisemitism or any hate speech in the party. This is a society-wide problem and needs to be rooted out wherever it’s found.”

Zack Polanski, who now leads the Greens in England and Wales, has disowned candidates highlighted for antisemitic comments. However, Labour has accused the party of acting too slowly to suspend or remove them.

The issue was highlighted last week after two Green candidates for Lambeth council in south London, Sabine Mairey and Saiqa Ali, were arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred online.

Screenshots of Ali’s Instagram account indicated she had posted an image of an armed man wearing a headband of the banned Islamist group Hamas, along with the slogan: “Resistance is freedom.”

Another screenshot indicated that Mairey had shared a post which included the text: “Ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism. It’s revenge.” Both have been suspended by the party.

Read More: Greens must take immediate action against antisemitism in party, says Lucas