Green by-election candidate who quit after nine hours apologises for Jewish ambulance attack post
The Green Party’s former candidate in the Makerfield by-election – which dropped out of the race just hours after it was announced – has apologized after it was reported that he had shared a post describing an attack on Jewish ambulances in North London as a “false flag”.
It was announced on Thursday morning that Chris Kennedy would be the Greens candidate, but the party confirmed about nine hours later that he was withdrawing his candidacy, citing “personal and family reasons”.
Times He later reported that he approached Mr Kennedy regarding a series of social media posts he shared.
In an Instagram video shared by Mr. Kennedy, the arrest of two men for the ambulance attack was described as “a complete farce*** to keep the false flag flying,” according to the newspaper.
The paper also says a user named Hugh Anthony, who describes himself as a “proud ethno-nationalist”, also shared a post saying the response to the Golders Green arson attack in March “makes no sense”.
Mr Anthony wrote: “How could someone burn down 3 ambulances, throw the whole country into turmoil, have the government deploy another 264 police units into the community, make the King patron of a charity and release him on bail, increasing the level of terrorism threat in the UK? This makes no sense.”
A spokesperson for the Green Party said: “These posts do not reflect the views of the Green Party.
“We spoke to Chris about these posts and he has now deleted them. He apologizes for any offense caused.”
The Green Party said its earlier statement still referred to the sacking of nurse and child safety expert Mr Kennedy.
The party previously said: “We wish Chris the best and understand that family must come first.
“As a party we are now reopening nominations because we believe people in Makerfield deserve a real choice in this by-election and the Green Party will be ready to deliver exactly that.
“More and more voters across the country are turning away from old parties and looking for politicians who will truly advocate for their communities.
“We will also redouble our campaigning efforts to expose the risk of Reform, a party that seeks to divide our communities.
“This election should be about how the super-rich pay their fair share, how we tackle the cost of living crisis with lower bills and affordable housing, and how we protect our public services and green spaces.
“This should be about offering Makerfield hope rather than hatred.”
Nomination applications for the replacement candidate will begin tomorrow and a selection meeting is planned for Monday evening.
It comes just weeks after Mr Polanski, the only current Jewish leader of a major political party in the UK, sparked outrage after sharing criticism of the police on social media after footage showed two police officers repeatedly kicking the Golders Green attacker in the head after he was tasered.
Mr Polanski apologized for hastily sharing the post but insisted police should not be immune from scrutiny.
The Greens also faced accusations of antisemitism after Labor said it would publish a document which they said disclosed 25 of the Green Party local election candidates as holding “disturbing views”.
The candidates were accused of “a slew of annoying anti-Semitism, dangerous conspiracy theories, and appalling comments supporting Hamas and Russia.”
The Green Party has been contacted for comment.
