A Green Party candidate standing in next week’s local elections referred to Jewish people as “cockroaches” in a social media post made just two months after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, it has emerged — as the party faces mounting pressure over what critics are calling a systemic antisemitism crisis within its ranks.
Raja Ateeq, who is standing in the Rushall-Shelfield ward in Walsall, posted the slur on Facebook in December 2023, claiming that “Jewish cockroaches” would not want to return to Gaza and adding that “400K Jewish have flown out of Israel.” He signed off the post with the words “Palestine will be free.” The post was highlighted by the Jewish News, after which a Green Party spokesman said Ateeq had removed it and “recognises that it was wrong to have posted it.” His Facebook page continues to show him carrying the Green Party banner as his profile picture.
The revelation is one of nearly 20 cases of offensive material posted by Green candidates ahead of the 7 May elections, identified by The Telegraph. The paper reports that the offensive content ranges across anti-Israel sentiment, with some candidates also expressing support for Palestine Action — a group that has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “These arrests appear to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to antisemitism in the Green Party. Zack Polanski needs to step up and start taking action against those in his party who are openly promoting the oldest form of racism: antisemitism.”
A Green Party spokesman said the party was “investigating anything brought to our attention that doesn’t fit with Green Party values and views.”
The Ateeq case lands alongside a series of other damaging developments for the Greens in the same week. Two Green Party candidates — women aged 54 and 57 — were arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred after allegedly posting antisemitic content online, including a post stating “Ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism, it’s revenge.” Those arrests followed the Golders Green terror attack in which two Jewish men were stabbed by a suspect who had been known to the Prevent deradicalisation programme.
The party’s leader Zack Polanski has also come under fire this week after reposting content online criticising Met Police officers for their handling of the Golders Green terror suspect’s arrest. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded the act “disgraceful” and said Polanski was “not fit to lead any political party.” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley also criticised him publicly. Polanski subsequently apologised for “sharing a tweet in haste.”
The party’s deputy leader Mothin Ali has previously attracted controversy for suggesting Hamas were “indigenous people defending themselves” in relation to the October 7 attacks, according to The Telegraph.
The accumulation of cases has intensified calls for Polanski to take decisive action against candidates and officials whose public statements cross into antisemitism — a challenge that now extends well beyond individual cases and goes to the question of what kind of party the Greens have become under his leadership.
