Two Green Party candidates standing in London at the local elections have been arrested after allegedly posting antisemitic comments online.
The two women were detained under section 19 of the Public Order Act.
The posts are alleged to have included the comments “ramming a synagogue isn’t anti-Semitism, it’s revenge” and “England has a government overrepresented with Zionists Jews”.
A now-deleted Facebook post from one of the women also reportedly stated 9/11 was a “false-flag attack” created by Israel.
A Green Party spokesperson told the Standard: “This is now a police matter and we are unable to comment at this stage."
Both were detained by the Met Police on Thursday morning, according to the Telegraph – just hours after an antisemitic terror attack in Golders Green.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, has criticised for appearing to suggest the hero officers who disarmed the suspect were heavy-handed in their approach.
Mr Polanski shared a social media post that stated police had “repeatedly and violently” kicked “a mentally ill man”.
The Met declared terrorist incident on Wednesday after two Jewish men, named as Shilome Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, were stabbed before police Tasered and restrained a knife-wielding suspect.
The 45-year-old suspected knifeman was involved in an “altercation” in south London earlier in the day which left another person injured, police said.
He was described as British of Somali descent with a “history of serious violence and mental health issues”, according to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley.
In response to the arrest, one online critic posted on X: “So essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by taser.”
It then appeared to be shared by Mr Polanski, which prompted criticism. He has since deleted the post.
Polls have suggested that the Greens could win control of up to nine councils in the capital at the local elections on May 7.
Overall, Labour support in down around 15 percentage points across London.
In some boroughs, such as Greenwich, it has nosedived by 20 percentage points, according to polling expert Sir John Curtice, but the party was still gaining more than 30% of the vote.
The Greens were up on average by around five percentage points across the city.
A survey by Ipsos UK found 49 per cent of Londoners are considering voting for the Green Party at the local elections when Labour is expected to suffer heavy losses.
This is the highest figure for all the parties, with Labour in second place on 44 per cent.
Just over a third of Londoners, 35 per cent, are considering backing the Liberal Democrats at the borough elections.
