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Why is Ifhat Shaheen a Green party candidate?

45 0
12.04.2026

The Green party’s embrace of extremists is gathering pace. Let me introduce you to Ifhat Shaheen (also known as Ifhat Shaheen-Smith or Ifhat Smith), who is likely to become a Green councillor in Hackney next month.

Shaheen has been selected in Stoke Newington ward, possibly the wokest place in Britain. It already has one Green councillor, who’s stepping down, and it would be fairly surprising, given Labour’s collapse, if there were not three after the election. But the voters of Stokey – which is right next door to London’s biggest Orthodox Jewish area – should perhaps know more about Shaheen’s stance on ‘Zionists’ and other subjects before they make up their minds. 

Let’s look at Shaheen’s Twitter account, which is registered under the name ‘Ifhat Smith’ (we know it’s her, for reasons I’ll explain later). After last month’s arson attack on Jewish ambulances in Golders Green, she reposted a message saying that ‘since Golders Green is now in the news, I want to take the opportunity to make people aware that the Jewish community in North London host IDF soldiers in their synagogues and raise funds for the IDF during a “family fun day”.’

When a small number of Jews demonstrated in front of Hackney town hall, Shaheen attacked them as ‘emboldened Zionists’ and ‘pro genociders’ who should not be there. She asked whether ‘Zionist funding’ was behind the racist Tommy Robinson marches, and said that ‘Corbyn would have been a great PM, the Zionist lobby worked hard to keep him out’. She suggested that Israel is harvesting organs from Palestinians ‘to help alter [the] DNA of Zionists to claim........

© The Spectator