Greens investigate party member behind Zionism motion

Speitan, a British‑Palestinian artist, introduced the Green Party league question that defines Zionism as an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state". The question – approved by party members with a vote of 1,022 to 813 – also called for a "single antiauthoritarian Palestinian authorities successful each of historical Palestine". Under Green Party rules, motions backed by members become authoritative party policy, though they are not automatically included in the party’s manifesto for the forthcoming general election. The proposal drew criticism from opposition parties and several Jewish groups, which labelled it an "attack connected the Jewish community". Four of the five Green Party MPs opposed the motion. Adrian Ramsay, a former party officer and Green MP for Waveney Valley, described the question as an "unhelpful distraction" and "wrong successful principle", adding that "the Green Party has ever supported the close to self-determination and that has to use to each peoples". When asked whether he might consider leaving the party, Ramsay told Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live that he was "not ruling thing successful oregon retired astatine this stage". He elaborated: "What I'm doing at this stage, and we're lone a fewer days aft the motion, is to speech cautiously with colleagues to bespeak some with Jewish Greens but also with Green MPs and different radical successful starring roles successful the enactment to look astatine however champion tin we get things backmost connected track". On Tuesday, the Jewish Chronicle reported the existence of a 2015 letter from Speitan in which she offered to act as a defence witness in the case of Minh Quang Pham. US prosecutors stated that Pham had been directed by al‑Qaeda leader Anwar al‑Awlaki to plant explosives in Heathrow’s arrivals area after spending several months in Yemen receiving training from him. Pham was sentenced to 40 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to supporting al‑Qaeda; he denied planning a lethal attack. In U.S. court documents from 2015, Speitan was identified as a "close friend" who could provide "critical grounds regarding Pham's intelligence state". In a later letter to the U.S. District Judge, Speitan wrote that Pham was "1 of the few radical I respect with specified precocious respect and esteem". She added that if the judge "truly knew the Minh [Pham] that I and others grew to emotion and respect", they might "probably have had the full lawsuit dismissed". She acknowledged that Pham "may have had and developed immoderate behavioural issues" but said: "He turned retired to be 1 of the kindest, honest, astir sincere, trustworthy and respectful radical I have ever known." The documents contain no indication that Speitan was aware of Pham’s extremist activities at the time they knew each other. After the letter surfaced on Tuesday afternoon, a Green Party spokesperson said: "Where members have expressed views that do not align with the party’s values, we have internal processes to investigate." On Wednesday the party issued an updated statement noting that "an probe is under way". The spokesperson confirmed: "Lubna Speitan holds no party positions other than being a member."