Sheffield Green Councillor calls allegations of antisemitism a “witch hunt” and reshares original text
“Stripping an Arabic text of its cultural and political context to manufacture a controversy is a bad-faith tactic aimed at policing language”
A Sheffield councillor accused of posting antisemitic social media posts claims he has been called out as part of a "politically motivated smear campaign" and a "witch hunt against those on the right side of history".
Green Party councillor Mustafa Ahmed, who represents the Burngreave ward, issued a fresh statement today after calls for him to be suspended from the party and for action to be taken.
The calls came after The Jewish Chronical unearthed some of his historic social media posts.
One of the three posts was an Arabic-language post shared to Facebook days after the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
Sentences in the post translate to “you alone will bear the shame of supporting the Jews" and "don't be more Jewish than the Jews".
Coun Ahmed previously deleted the post, but has now reshared the Arabic-language text to Facebook, claiming he was "poorly advised" to remove it.
It comes as the national Green Party's 'Zionism is Racism' motion continues to divide the Labour and Green joint leadership on Sheffield Council, with the national Labour executive demanding all local partnerships to end over the motion they deem "antisemitic.”
Coun Ahmed said: "I completely reject the politically motivated smear campaign led by the Jewish Chronicle and echoed by political opportunists.
"Following the initial reporting, I was poorly advised to take down the 2023 repost and issue a response; having since taken advice, I am clarifying my position without equivocation.
"The accusation of antisemitism regarding my repost of Palestinian writer Adham Sharkawi relies on a deliberate distortion of language.
"In Palestinian political vernacular, Yahud is routinely used to denote the Israeli state and its apparatus rather than Jewish people collectively, a linguistic reality acknowledged by mainstream broadcasters, including the BBC.
"Stripping an Arabic text of its cultural and political context to manufacture a controversy is a bad-faith tactic aimed at policing language and suppressing anti-colonial speech.
"My opposition to Zionism and the policies of the Israeli state is principled, consistent, and grounded entirely in human rights and international law.
"I am prepared to take the necessary actions against those who continue to attack me. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, and conflating the two serves only to shield state violence from legitimate scrutiny.
"While I stand firmly against all genuine forms of racism. I will not retreat from my solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for justice and self-determination.
"I correct the record plainly: political dissent against state oppression will not be silenced by manufactured outrage, and I stand firmly behind the right to advocate for Palestinian liberation.
"I therefore reshare my initial post which has deliberately been used to target me in a vicious witch hunt against those on the right side of history."
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the Green Party said a number of translators had contextualised the text.
The spokesperson said: "The text describes political dissent within the Arab and Muslim world and is a call for faith, conscience and solidarity with Palestine.
"It is an example of what is typically seen in a lot of texts in the Middle East and North Africa when referencing resistance against Israeli occupation and colonisation, and doesn’t necessarily refer to all Jewish people worldwide.
"The criticism is aimed entirely at other Arabs and Muslims, framing their political dissent as spiritual/moral betrayal. It seeks to shame an internal group, not to describe an external one."
The spokesperson previously said that Coun Ahmed "has deleted and deeply regrets a 2023 Facebook post which he says does not accurately reflect his views in the English translation".