Social media post allegedly by candidate for Clapham Town claimed synagogue attacks ‘were revenge’
Daily Telegraph 30/04/26
Two Green Party candidates have been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred for allegedly posting anti-Semitic comments online.
Saiqa Ali, who is standing in Streatham, in the borough of Lambeth, and Sabine Mairey, the candidate for Clapham Town, also in Lambeth, were detained by Metropolitan Police officers on Thursday morning.
One of the social media posts by Ms Ali shows an image of an armed man in a Hamas headband under the slogan “resistance is freedom”. The militant group is a proscribed terrorist organisation.
A post by Ms Mairey includes a picture of a man holding a placard that reads “ramming a synagogue isn’t anti-Semitism, it’s revenge” above a picture of two children that it says have been “murdered by Israel”.
She also suggested that Israel was worse than Nazi Germany with a photo of Auschwitz which said the Nazis “had to hide what they were doing”.
In another post from Ms Ali, a cartoon shows a young girl asking her mother: “Why won’t US politicians end the Gaza Holocaust?”. The mother replies: “Because Israel is blackmailing them with the Epstein files, honey.”
In several now-deleted Facebook posts, she also claimed that 9/11 was a “false-flag attack” created by Israel and said the Government was over-represented with “Zionist Jews”.
Other posts included a picture of the Earth being choked by a serpent with the Star of David on its skin and an AI-generated image of a Jewish caricature with the caption: “Don’t you know the rules? We went through the Holocaust, and now we get to kill everyone, forever!”
The two candidates have been arrested under Section 19 of the Public Order Act and taken into custody for questioning.
Ms Ali has previously apologised for offence or distress caused by her online social media comments, which include claims that Donald Trump is “owned by Jews”.
She was accused by the Lambeth Labour group of sharing anti-Semitic posts that repeated harmful tropes about Jewish people.
In her apology, she said she “unequivocally rejects anti-Semitism in all its forms”, adding: “My comments were rooted in concern for the humanitarian situation in the Middle East, and I remain committed to speaking with care, responsibility and respect for everyone.”
The arrests come hours after an anti-Semitic terror attack in Golders Green, north London, in which two Jewish men were stabbed. A 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder over the knife attack on Wednesday morning.
Lambeth council has been under Labour control for 20 years, with the party currently holding 54 of the borough’s 63 councillors.
However, it is now a key target of the Greens, with a recent YouGov poll suggesting that 34 per cent of residents would support the party, putting it joint first with Labour voting intention.
The Green Party denied rumours that leader Zack Polanski was planning to campaign with Ali and Mairey on Thursday.
A party spokesman said: “This is now a police matter. We are unable to comment at this stage.”
Scotland Yard has been contacted for comment.
Comments
Post a Comment