Green Party candidate arrested over antisemitic social media posts
A Green Party local election candidate was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred for allegedly posting anti-Semitic content on social media.
The Metropolitan Police arrested two women on Thursday morning, one of whom was confirmed to be one of the party’s candidates.
The force said they were detained under the Public Order Act after receiving a report last Tuesday.
Posts seen TelegramIt is alleged that one of the women included comments such as: “Attacking the synagogue is not antisemitism, it is revenge.”
A now-deleted post by one of the women claimed the government was overrepresented with “Zionist Jews,” while another post allegedly featured an image of a snake strangling the world, marked with the Star of David.
The Met Police said: “Police arrested two women, aged 57 and 54, on suspicion of inciting racial hatred online, an offense under section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986.
“They remain in police custody. The arrests follow an investigation launched after concerns about anti-Semitic material posted online were reported to police on Tuesday, April 21.”
A Green Party spokesman said: “This is now a police matter. We will not be commenting at this stage.”
The arrests came hours after two Jewish men were stabbed in an alleged terror attack in Golders Green.
The stabbings are the latest in a series of attacks on the Jewish community in north-west London in recent weeks, prompting calls for urgent action as well as accusations that the government is not doing enough to tackle antisemitism.
The government said a further £25 million would be invested to improve the security of Jewish communities following the suspected terror attack.
The funding will aim to increase police patrols and guards around synagogues, schools and community centres, taking the total commitment this year to £58 million.
The Prime Minister was stunned when he arrived at the Jewish community ambulance center in Golders Green on Thursday.
Addressing the nation later, Sir Keir said incidents like Golders Green “keep happening” as he called on Britons to tackle antisemitism.
“At moments like these we often say that this isn’t Britain, that these attacks are an insult to British values, to British tolerance, to British civility. But they keep happening, don’t they?” he said.
“And today I will say instead that our values are not a gift passed down from generation to generation, they are something we earn through action every day, they come from us.
“Anti-Semitism is a very old hatred, history shows that its roots are deep, if you turn away it will bloom again. But too many people in this country reduce it. They either do not see it or do not want to see it.”
