The Green Party candidate for Hackney mayor is facing criticism for refusing to sign a letter praising the Metropolitan Police following April’s antisemitic knife attacks in Golders Green.
Councillor Zoë Garbett, who co-leads the Green Party in Hackney and sits on the London Assembly’s police and crime committee, raised objections to the proposed missive.
The letter aimed to laud officers for their “swift response” to the stabbings on April 29.
Ms Garbett cited “video footage which looks like two officers kicking the attacker in the side of the head after he has been tasered”, The Telegraph reported.
She also raised concerns that the letter did not mention “arson and violent attacks on the Jewish community and the Met’s proposed action on this”.
In messages seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Cllr Garbett added it was “highly inappropriate for a letter of this nature to be sent during the pre-election period”.
She added that the letter should address “how the attacker had stabbed someone in south London” prior to the Golders Green attacks, which left two men hospitalised.
Her objections meant that the draft, requiring unanimous committee agreement, could not be sent to Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
Her comments have invited attacks from the local Labour Party, which is defending its control of the council against the Greens at the local elections on Thursday, May 7. In a statement, Hackney Labour said the comments were a “slap in the face to police officers who acted quickly to save lives”.
“At this time of rising antisemitic hate crime, we have a duty to show support to our Jewish community. We are disappointed that Ms Garbett has instead decided to focus on criticising the officers who acted to save Jewish lives,” the party said.
“Zack Polanski has been forced to apologise for this issue, Zoë Garbett should too,” the statement adds.
The Greens have defended Garbett’s “dissent” to the wording of the letter. Speaking to LDRS, a spokesperson suggested that she had not blocked the letter but proposed changes to it that were rejected by the chair.
“Zoë Garbett’s current job as an Assembly Member is to ask questions about how the police act and to make sure what they do is in line with the standards the public has for them. This is exactly what she’s done here,” the spokesperson said.
“She shares the committee’s concern about both rising antisemitic hate crime and the safety of Jewish Londoners. However, she believes this letter should place greater emphasis on scrutiny of the police regarding this incident and the Prevent programme.
“This shows Labour are not serious about investigating why police failed to prevent these attacks after a series of incidents in the area targeting the Jewish community,” the spokesperson said.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski apologised last Friday after he was similarly criticised for reposting a message on X accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser”.
In an official police statement, Sir Mark Rowley rebuked Mr Polanski for intensifying “inaccurate and misinformed commentary” and “intervening in operational policing”.
The Greens’ leader said it “wasn’t appropriate” for him to share the post. However, he said police should “not be above scrutiny” and criticised Sir Mark for writing the open letter which “was not an appropriate way to do politics either in a local election”.
The alleged attacker, Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged on three counts of attempted murder after Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, were stabbed in Golders Green on April 29, and another man, Ishmail Hussein, was attacked in Southwark the same day.
He has been remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on May 15. Both Mr Shine and Mr Rand have been discharged from hospital.
