How could the Greens NOT know about newly-elected councillor's hate-filled rant ... trends now
The Greens were last night facing fury over their failure to suspend a councillor who launched a hate-filled tirade against a rabbi.
Mothin Ali, who was elected to Leeds city council last week, had called Leeds University's Jewish chaplain, Zecharia Deutsch, a 'creep', a 'low-life' and an 'animal'.
The 42-year-old had been allowed to stand for the Greens despite branding Israelis 'white supremacists' after the Hamas Palestinian terror group killed 1,200 people on October 7 last year. He was filmed shouting 'We will raise the voice of Palestine – Allahu Akbar!' after winning his council seat.
Yesterday the party faced a string of calls to take action against him, including from Jewish leaders who accused it of hypocrisy for not distancing itself from his 'extremist nonsense'. Back in February Daily Mail feature writer Guy Adams presented the Greens with a dossier of offensive comments made by Mr Ali, including the tirade against Rabbi Deutsch, who was later forced into hiding.
When presented with the evidence at the time, the Green Party told this paper it 'believes in free speech' and Mr Ali was allowed to stand, and win, as a councillor. But staggeringly, when asked about Mr Ali's offensive remarks in a television interview on Sunday night, Carla Denyer co-leader of the Green Party, appeared not to know about them.
Mothin Ali, who was elected to Leeds city council last week, had called Leeds University's Jewish chaplain, Zecharia Deutsch, a 'creep', a 'low-life' and an 'animal'
She declined to comment when asked about how well the party vets candidates, saying she was 'not familiar with all of the details' and didn't have 'the full facts at hand.' She added the remarks sounded 'very concerning' and that she would 'make sure that those are looked into'.
Last night there was still no indication Mr Ali faced being suspended, with the Greens only saying they were 'investigating'.
It came as the party faces a showdown with the Government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism, ex-Labour MP Lord Mann, over its vetting of candidates. Ahead of a high-level meeting this week, he warned: 'Doing nothing is not an option.'
Analysis has showed that more than 40 councillors were elected in England last week after making the Middle East crisis part of their campaign.
Mr Ali, a prominent YouTuber who works as an accountant and runs a
