Sultana uses ‘pro-Israel’ platform to collect fees as Corbyn rift deepens

The anti-Zionist Your Party leader has ignored calls from pro-Palestine campaigners to boycott the Stripe payment system

Your Party co-founders Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana
Your Party co-founders Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana

Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana used the Stripe payment platform to collect membership fees, despite calls from pro-Palestine campaigners to boycott the service over its founders’ support for Israel.

Sultana, the Coventry South MP, set up her own online portal this week to take £55-a-year membership payments from supporters, following a public falling-out with co-leader Jeremy Corbyn.

She accused Corbyn’s camp of running “a sexist boys’ club” and claimed she had been “excluded completely” from the party’s operation.

On Thursday, an email offering the £55 memberships was sent to Your Party supporters.

Corbyn dismissed the appeal as “unauthorised” and said he was seeking legal advice.

The party has referred the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), raising concerns about possible misuse of supporters’ details—a matter that could carry serious penalties.

Stripe founder Patrick Collison posts from Israel

Jewish News can reveal that Sultana’s choice of Stripe for handling membership payments has ignored criticism within the pro-Palestine movement.

Pro-Palestine activists have previously urged a boycott of Stripe, after its Irish-born CEO, Patrick Collison, posted enthusiastically on X (formerly Twitter) about visiting Tel Aviv, alongside a photo of an Israeli flag. Collison’s brother and Stripe co-founder, Tommy, has openly described himself as a Zionist.

While some supporters noted Patrick Collison’s outreach to Palestinian tech founders, pro-Palestine campaigners condemned his support for Israel.

“Boycott Stripe whose immoral business owners support an apartheid state carrying out genocide,” one activist posted.

Another wrote that Collison was “f**king sick” for praising Tel Aviv while “Gaza is barely as far along the coast as Dublin is to Greystones.”

Sultana’s use of Stripe to collect party funds has been seen as inconsistent with her vocal anti-Zionist stance.

The latest turmoil follows Sultana’s decision to launch her own membership website, which she says has attracted 20,000 sign-ups “in line with the roadmap” set by party officials.

She maintains her only motivation is to “safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential to building this party.”

However, tensions have risen sharply. Sultana claims she has faced exclusion and sexism: “I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely. They have refused to allow any other women with voting rights on the Working Group, blocking the gender-balanced committee that both Jeremy and I signed up to.”

Corbyn, meanwhile, issued a statement—signed by Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed, and Shockat Adam, all fellow founding MPs—disavowing Sultana’s membership drive and urging supporters to ignore the “unauthorised email” and cancel any direct debits.

Zarah Sultana’s party membership launch

Sultana has also accused Corbyn ally Karie Murphy and her associates of being handed “sole financial control of members’ money and sole constitutional control over our conference.”

The party has denied these claims, describing Murphy as a “trusted and dedicated volunteer” with no access to funds.

Jewish News has also learned that Sultana’s demand for MPs to avoid becoming landlords is at odds with the status of some pro-Gaza MPs in the party. Adam, Khan, and Hussain have all reportedly held landlord roles since entering Parliament.

The party’s referral of the case to the ICO could have significant ramifications: the watchdog can issue fines of up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover, and refer serious fraud or negligence cases to the police.

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