Green councillor
A Green councillor who yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ after being elected and claimed Palestinians had the right to ‘fight back’ in the wake of the Hamas attacks in Israel appeared in an episode of a Marcus Wareing cooking show, MailOnline can reveal.
Mothin Ali, who branded Israelis ‘white supremacists’ and ‘occupiers’ in videos posted on social media just 24 hours after Hamas’ horrific October 7 attacks, was featured on the BBC show two years ago.
The footage came to light after it was revealed that Mr Ali, who was elected on Thursday, is being investigated by the Green Party for his ‘concerning’ comments over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The 42-year-old had branded his victory in the Gipton and Harehills ward on Leeds City Council was a ‘win for the people of Gaza‘ – a territory he has previously called a ‘concentration camp’.
It is a far cry from his appearance on Marcus Wareing’s Tales from a Kitchen Garden in 2022, where the father-of-three gave the host tips on how to grow chilis and ginger at home.
The campaigner, who still runs a gardening channel that has more than 50,000 subscribers, surprised the TV chef by suggesting that he soak ginger in water for a few days before sealing it in a tupperware box to encourage it to sprout before planting it outside.
He then leaves Mr Wareing impressed by advising him to use leftover tea to help germinate chilli seeds as its acidic nature breaks down the wall coating – warning him to avoid milky tea for fear of them going ‘mouldy’.
Towards the end of the segment Mr Ali then brings out a Carolina Reaper chilli – one of the hottest in the world – and laughs when the chef says ‘that’s death’, before joking back ‘pretty much’.
Mothin Ali shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ when he won a seat on Leeds City Council last week in the Gipton and Harehills ward
Mr Ali, who branded Israelis ‘white supremacists’ and ‘occupiers’ in videos posted on social media just 24 hours after Hamas’ horrific October 7 attacks, appeared on an episode of a Marcus Wareing cooking show two years ago
In the episode of the BBC series from 2022 the father-of-three gave the host tips on how to grow chilis and ginger at home
As he plants his own chilis Mr Wareing jokes ‘you’re just trying to kill me’, to which the controversial councillor responds ‘they’re fun. I hope you get as much pleasure as I do out of them’.
Since being elected last week Mr Ali has become shrouded in further controversy after comments from his TikTok account were unearthed from October 8 – the day after Hamas’ terrorist attack saw 1,160 Israelis killed and a further 250 taken hostage.
Yet instead of condemning the horrendous attack, Mr Ali labelled Israel ‘white supremacists’ and claimed that Gaza was ‘the biggest concentration camp the world has ever seen’.
In the clip the Green Councillor went on to suggest the terrorist organisation’s actions were justified because ‘Palestinians have the right to resist occupying forces’ before urging his viewers to ‘support the right of indigenous people to fight back’.
He also accused Israel of trying to ‘erase the legitimacy of the native population’.
The Leeds Beckett University graduate, who is the director of his own accountancy firm, started his TikTok account just before the war in Gaza began and has since then frequently posted his ramblings on the subject.
‘Every single person, every single people have a right to fight back, every single people have a right to live free of occupiers,’ he said in the wake of the Hamas attack.
‘That includes people who are brown, that includes people who are Muslim, that includes people who are Arab.
The Green councillor is being investigated by his party after the ‘concerning’ comments came to light
The 42-year-old father-of-three claimed his election to the local council as a Green candidate was a ‘win for the people of Gaza ‘
Mothin Ali out campaigning for his council seat – which he won on Thursday
‘Just because they are brown and Arab doesn’t mean they don’t have a right to fight back.’
In another video on his TikTok account, he said: ‘The latest round of hostilities started when Hamas fighters started fighting back against Israeli occupation.
‘The land was ethnically cleansed by European settler colonialists – white supremacists. When people wanna talk about it you’ve gotta remember it is white supremacy.
‘White supremacists have always done well at portraying the native population as barbarians, as some kind of bloodthirsty savage.
‘That is what they did with the Native Americans, that is how they dehumanised them, that is what they did with the aboriginals, that is how they dehumanised them, that is what they did with the Africans, that is why they were able to take them as slaves.’
Mr Ali also said Israel would use the ‘pretext of the fightback by Hamas fighters’ to launch an assault on Gaza’s civilian population.
He added: ‘They [Israelis] are not victims, they are occupiers, they are colonialists, they are European colonialists.
‘It’s one of the last European colonies in the world and that’s why the European people don’t want to let it go. They use the weapon of anti-Semitism so effectively that anyone who criticises Israel is labelled as anti-semitic.’
More than 40 councillors were elected in England after making the conflict part of their campaign, analysis of Thursday’s vote suggests. Pictured: Councillor Mothin Ali
After the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on 7 October last year, Mr Ali – who runs a gardening blog – branded Israelis as ‘white supremacists’ in social media videos
Meanwhile in February he created a video that branded a Jewish Rabbi ‘this creep,’ calling him a ‘kind of animal,’ an ‘absolute low-life,’ ‘absolutely disgusting’ and ‘shameful’.
He falsely claimed that he had deliberately attempted to ‘kill women and children’ in Gaza.
The Rabbi, who is Leeds University’s Jewish Chaplain, was forced to go into hiding with his family after threats were made against him when he returned to the university after temporarily serving in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
After his election victory in the Gipton and Harehills seat with 3,070 votes, he claimed people were ‘fed up’ of being ‘let down’ by the Labour council and said his phone has been ‘ringing off the hook’ since the win.
Throughout his victory speech, which has went viral online, there is arguing between the Green members and the other parties at the count – with people heard swearing and told to ‘shut up’.
His victory speech led to an outcry from members of the general public with Jewish leaders demanding the newly elected councillor is suspended for spreading ‘extremist nonsense‘.
Today, the Green Party said Mr Ali is being investigated over his ‘concerning’ views after the party gained nearly 75 council seats on Thursday.
In light of the controversial speech, former Labour MP Lord Mann, who is the Government’s independent advisor on antisemitism, is due to sit down with party officials.
Other concerns have also been raised about other council members after analysis showed more than 40 had made the Middle East crisis part of their campaign.
Leaders of Britain’s Jewish community slammed the Green Party as ‘breathtakingly foolish, dangerous and insensitive’ for selecting Mr Ali as a candidate and demanded his immediate suspension for spreading ‘extremist nonsense’.
The Green Party politician started his TikTok account just before the war in Gaza began and has since then has frequently posted his ramblings on the subject
He shouted in the video: ‘We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!’
His campaign at the local elections focused on anti-social behaviour, housing and community welfare, and community equality – according to the Green Party website
In an open letter to co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, the chairman of Leeds Jewish Representative Council, Simon Myerson KC, wrote that Mr Ali had a ‘substantial history of views which are concerning to the Jewish community’.
Accusing the Greens of ‘hypocrisy’ over their failure to distance themselves from him, Mr Myerson said it was ‘wholly wrong’ for the party to continue to associate itself with Mr Ali.
He wrote that while the newly-elected councillor was ‘perfectly entitled’ to express his views on Gaza, it was ‘obvious that his appeal to voters was nakedly based on that, rather than the platform your party publicly espouses’.
Mr Myerson accused Mr Ali of attempting to justify ‘rape, murder and kidnap’ and using ‘antisemitic tropes’.
He added that for the Greens to nominate him as their candidate as deputy mayor of West Yorkshire responsible for policing in last week’s election given fears over the rise of antisemitic hate crime in the county was ‘breathtakingly foolish, dangerous and insensitive’.
‘These matters do, I suggest, call the Green Party’s own integrity into question,’ Mr Myerson wrote.
‘The deliberate exploitation of a particular issue which is never going to be addressed by the election of a local councillor as a major factor in that councillor’s election campaign is nakedly opportunistic.
‘Populist policies are normally identified as being adopted by the far-right. It is a great pity that you have lowered your own party to behave in that way in my city.
Mothin Ali made a Tiktok video calling a Jewish chaplain ‘this creep,’ calling him a ‘kind of animal’ in February
Rabbi Zecharia and wife Nava Deutsch, pictured, and their two young children were moved to a safe location on police advice amid the shocking hate campaign
‘Because this matter is so serious, I am treating this correspondence as public.
‘You have known about Mr Ali’s views for a considerable time.
‘It is 48 hours since he was elected, and your silence has now gone past the time during which – I accept – you must have been considering how exactly you cope with the disastrous effect of the video of his behaviour at his count.
‘It is time for you to stop thinking about yourselves, and to think of the people directly affected by your choices.
‘I look forward to hearing your explanation. Finally, I am asking you to formally suspend Mr Ali as a Green Party member.
‘It is wholly wrong that your party should seek to benefit from his views and his behaviour.
‘It is antithetical to the ethics of which you boast. It is nothing more than hypocrisy.
‘You should act, immediately, and explain yourselves thereafter.’
Backing the concerns, Claudia Mendoza, CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: ‘At a time of such division and fear, we need politicians who will work to secure community cohesion, not undermine it.
‘Mr Ali’s record speaks for itself and if the Green Party is serious about dealing with antisemitism rather than just paying lip service to it in meetings with community leaders, action will be taken.’
Adding to the storm of criticism, The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the Greens had ‘serious questions to answer’.
‘We are appalled by comments found to have been made by a newly elected Green Party councillor in Leeds, in which he appeared to celebrate and attempt to justify the October 7 mass terror attack on Israel,’ a spokesman said.
‘While we understand that the Greens are investigating this, the party has serious questions to answer over its utter failure of due diligence, which includes nominating Mr Ali for the role of deputy mayor for police and crime.’
According to the Telegraph, Mr Ali has not been suspended by the Greens and will continue representing the party as a councillor during the investigation.
A party spokesman said: ‘The Green Party is investigating issues drawn to our attention in relation to Councillor Mothin Ali, so cannot comment further.
‘However, we are clear that we never support anything that extols violence.’
Lord Mann will reportedly explore the possibility of the Green Party suspending or withdrawing the whip from some elected councillors and improving its candidate selection and vetting.
He told The Times he was meeting the Greens this week ‘to discuss what they are going to do in reaction to these people and also more widely in their membership and their candidate selections’.
He suggested one response might be to copy Labour’s reaction to discovering its Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali had made unacceptable remarks about Israel.
‘If he had been elected he would not have been accepted into the party structures,’ Lord Mann said.
MailOnline has contacted the BBC and the Green Party for comment. Mr Ali declined to comment on when approached by MailOnline yesterday.
