Greens taking ‘seriously’ al Qaida link claims about member behind anti-Zionist motion
It was reported the member behind the move has links to an al Qaida terrorist
The Green Party has said it “takes all allegations of this nature seriously” after it was reported the member behind the recent “Zionism is racism” motion has links to an al Qaida terrorist.
Green Party members voted for a motion at their conference in Brighton on Sunday which established as policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”.
It also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of its historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.
According to The Telegraph, the member behind the motion, Lubna Speitan, is close friends with an al Qaida terrorist who plotted to bomb passengers landing at Heathrow from Israel.
The newspaper reports that Ms Speitan offered to give evidence in the defence of Minh Quang Pham, jailed in the US for a plot to detonate a backpack filled with shrapnel dipped in rat poison in the airport arrivals lounge.
Court documents from 2015 reportedly describe them as “close friends” and, when asked by The Telegraph, Ms Speitan is said to have confirmed that is still the case.
A Green Party spokesperson said they have “internal processes” to investigate when a member expresses views that do not align with the party’s values.
The spokesperson said: “Lubna Speitan holds no party positions other than being a member.
“The Green Party takes all allegations of this nature seriously.
“Where members have expressed views that do not fit in with the party’s values, we have internal processes to investigate.”
The “Zionism is racism” vote came just days before the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which the Green Party’s leader Zack Polanski is running in.
Mr Polanski abstained from the vote, having already left the conference to return to campaigning in Sir Keir Starmer’s old constituency.
In the wake of the vote, the Wales Green Party’s deputy leader announced his resignation on Tuesday, and said that he had left the party after seven years.
In a video published online, Phil Davies said he had been thinking about leaving for “a couple of months”, but that it was “accelerated” by the “Zionism is racism” motion.
He branded the motion “imperialistic” and “idiotic”, adding that it “doesn’t materially achieve anything in the real world”.
He said: “Why are we, as people in Britain, telling people in the Middle East what their future is to be?
“That strikes me as British imperialism, and as a proud Welshman, I just can’t be in a party which has passed a motion like that, personally, I’ve decided.”
Mr Davies added that he also did not think the Wales Green Party was respected or supported within the wider party or that the party has a long-term strategy for gaining power.
Backing the Wales Green Party splitting from the wider Green Party of England and Wales, Mr Davies said he would consider rejoining if this happened.