Leaked chats show Green Party members discussing ‘wiping Israel off the map’ and curbing press freedom

Green Party activists exposed by The Times over private discussions about “wiping Israel off the map” have also backed plans to give a statutory regulator powers over journalists’ ethics.

Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, also separately called for government action against the press in response to an article about climate policy.

Sophus Magill, a Green parish councillor in Wootton Bridge on the Isle of Wight, set up the Greens Against Imperialism group in which the messages were shared. Magill wrote “Zionism has to go”, adding: “The only solution is one equal state.”

When another participant asked whether that meant wanting Israel “wiped off the map, in essence?”, Magill replied: “Yes, I would like that.”

After the article was published, Magill complained about The Times using his photograph amid suggestions that newspapers should not be allowed to use pictures of people they were reporting on without their consent. He wrote: “The fact they used my picture as well […] I stand by the things I said. Unfortunately the framing was very distorted and strawmanning.”

Kosai then used the group to urge members to co-propose the press regulation motion.

She wrote: “Reminder to those not yet co-proposed the Late Motion on Jason Arday as that addresses the woeful unethical sensationalist media that doesn’t care about the people it smears — especially if they’re black, because the mainstream media in this country IS racist.”

Members of the Greens  have also been implicated in leaked WhatsApp messages in which they discussed “ploughing into a group” of Israelis, and “killing Zionists.”

In one exchange, a member expressed understanding for the urge to “plough into” a group of Israelis.

Another participant suggested that being an antizionist “could mean that you support killing Zionists,” adding that it was not surprising some antizionists were also “anti-Jews.”

Earlier this month, a member of the private group chat, titled Greens Against Imperialism, wrote: “I suppose an extreme antizionist could mean that you support killing Zionists.

“But that is not specifically racist any more than believing in capital punishment for traitors or ‘terrorists’ is. Wrong but not necessarily racist imv [in my view].

“Considering the genocide it is not surprising some anti Zionists particularly those living in, or having relatives in Palestine, are anti Jews, lumping all Jews in with the majority of Israeli Jews as Genociders. Wrong but understandable. People of every belief can also be racist even pacifists and environmentalists.”

Another participant added: “I can tell you if a state in the name of an ethnic group destroyed my village and killed my family, I might want to plough into a group of them too.”

In one  online exchange in July, Magill wrote: “Zionism has to go, it’s ultimately an apartheidal, ethno-supremacist ideology [sic]. The only solution is one equal state.”

When another group member asked whether that meant wanting Israel “wiped off the map, in essence,” Magill replied: “Yes, I would like that.”

Magill said he did not believe it was violent to want “an illegitimate apartheid state gone from all maps,” comparing Israel to Rhodesia.

He added that “Israeli [sic] citizens who are not war criminals and who agree to peacefully coexist with Palestinians” could remain in a new Palestine, stating that everyone should have the right to live wherever they want as long as they do not threaten the safety of others.

In another exchange in June, a different participant claimed that Jews in the UK were being used as a “weapon” by the Israeli state.