The Green Party will face an investigation from the government's independent adviser on anti-Semitism after a councilor shouted “Allahu akbar”, meaning God is greatest, after his election.
Mothin Ali won a seat on Leeds City Council on Friday, describing his victory as a “victory for the people of Gaza” after previously being involved in the harassment of a Jewish university chaplain who was driven from his home.
Two others who won seats in Bristol had been involved in social media posts leading up to the election The city's Labor Party to raise concerns that the Greens were becoming a haven for anti-Semitism.
The Jewish press has also taken offense to some anti-Israel comments made by a Green councilor in Peterborough.
Now Lord Mann will explore the possibility of the Green Party suspending or withdrawing the whip from elected councilors and improving the selection of candidates and monitoring the behavior of its councillors.
Ali heard the election results while wearing a keffiyeh, the scarf that symbolizes Palestinian resistance.
He then celebrated his victory in Leeds by raising his arm in the air and saying: “We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu akbar.”
He was already known for controversial comments to Rabbi Zacheria Deutsch, a Israel Defense Force (IDF) reservist and Jewish chaplain at the University of Leeds, who was advised by police to go into hiding with his wife and two children after threats of death and rape.
Ali, a prolific YouTuber, raged on social media: “This creep, that's the only way I can describe him, is someone who went from Leeds to Israel to kill children and women and everyone else there.”
He told the University of Leeds: “You should protect students from animals like this because if he is willing to kill people there, how do you know he is not going to kill your students here?”
Lord Mann wrote to the Greens last month about the social media activities of some of their candidates in Bristol.