Cabinet minister tells Polanski ‘Sack the antisemites now’

A senior cabinet minister has demanded that Zack Polanski remove antisemitic and racist candidates from the Green Party, accusing the party of failing to carry out background checks ahead of next month’s local elections.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: “Zack Polanski has said he will disown candidates who are identified as racists, so he needs to sack them.

“He has got time to take away the Green Party’s endorsement of these individuals, and that is exactly what he should do, and as quickly as possible.”

Reed’s remarks came after Jewish News and other media exposed numerous examples of antisemitism among candidates standing in the May 7 elections.

It has also emerged that the Greens have set up a support group for candidates the party claims have been “smeared” by the media. Deputy leader Mothin Ali backed the group, which offers support to those accused of making controversial comments, including those deemed to be antisemitic.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Reed said: “The Labour Party went through and cleared out the racists and the antisemites who had brought our party to its knees and ended up with the party being referred to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for racism.

“We kicked them out, and they’ve been able to walk into the Green Party with no one checking their backgrounds. A lot of those people are not only in the Green Party — they have been selected to stand as candidates in the local elections.”

Among those under scrutiny is Aziz Hakimi, who is standing in Camden’s Haverstock ward. Jewish News reported that he shared a post in which a speaker blames “Zionists” for the 9/11 terror attack on the Twin Towers.

Screenshots circulated this week also appear to show he posted “stay strong Hamas” in 2018, and more recently shared an article suggesting the attack on Hatzola ambulances was a “false flag” operation.

Following a racially-aggravated attack on a Jewish boy in Hampstead last year, comments attributed to Hakimi’s account claimed misinformation was being spread and that “everyone knows who’s playing the victim card.”

Several other social media posts attributed to Hakimi are under investigation. Labour and Liberal Democrat council leaders in the borough have called on Polanski to drop him as a candidate.

Polanski has admitted the party was overwhelmed by the candidate selection process. “I won’t be surprised if we have the odd candidate where we have to distance ourselves from them,” he said last week.