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Green party reinstates councillor suspended over ‘antisemitic’ video
Mohammed Suleman said he had 'had time to reflect on and learn from these actions'
The Green Party has reinstated a councillor who was suspended earlier this year after having been found to have shared a TikTok video claiming that Jewish prisoners of the Nazis were willing to bury Soviet prisoners alive.
Mohammed Suleman, a councillor in the Arthur’s Hill ward in Newcastle, was suspended prior to the local elections in May after he was reported for sharing the video on social media. Having already been a Green party councillor, he was re-elected and has since sat as an independent.
The video, which claims to show an excerpt from an Soviet soldier’s diary, also contains quotes describing Jews as “ungrateful, merciless and without love”.
Suleman was also found to have admitted in June 2025 to illegally disposing of waste and operating a facility to dispose of waste without an environmental permit at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court, leaving some to question his Green credentials.
As reported by Chronicle Live, the Newcastle Green group issued a statement on Tuesday saying that Suleman’s suspension from the party had been lifted, and that the councillor “is regretful, knows he has been in the wrong, and that the posts he unknowingly shared were antisemitic”.
In a statement from Suleman himself, the councillor said: “I am deeply sorry for the mistakes I made in the past resulting in my suspension. I have had time to reflect on and learn from these actions, and will work hard to ensure that in the future my actions reflect my commitment to inclusion, environmental protection and antiracism.”
The decision comes just days after a highly controversial motion defining Zionism as Racism was passed at Green party conference – with an amendment specifically designed to protect Jewish Green party members who attend Synagogues being overwhelmingly rejected by delegates.
Reports about a completely unverified Soviet soldier’s ‘diary’ accusing Jews of committing atrocities under Nazi orders has circulated for a number of years, and become part of a wider anti-Israel propaganda campaign. In 2019, Fatah, the Palestinian party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, shared the claim, describing “important documents that should be reviewed”.
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