South Yorkshire Mayor "hurt and angered" by Green councillor's inflammatory social media posts
“I think the Green Party have to look at their response to some of the social media posts from their councillor”
South Yorkshire’s mayor has called on Sheffield’s Green Party to “look at their response” to councillors’ social media posts - after a city representative was outed for “antisemitic” remarks.
On November 9, the Jewish Chronicle posted a story exposing a deleted Facebook post from Burngreave ward councillor Mustafa Ahmed in the days after the 2023 October 7 attack in Israel.
The councillor, who was elected in May this year - allegedly wrote that those who do not support a war in Gaza will “bear the shame of supporting the Jews”.
He also allegedly wrote “you alone will bear the shame of supporting the Jews".
The Chronicle also claimed that during Iran strikes on Israel in June 2025, Coun Ahmed shared a video to TikTok showing Tel Aviv in flames, accompanied by a song containing a prayer against Jews.
It comes as an alliance between Sheffield’s Labour and Green groups appeared to have been salvaged, despite ongoing debates over the Greens’ controversial ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion which was passed at the national party conference in Brighton in early October.
During a monthly Q&A with The Star, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard spoke about the ongoing debate.
Speaking on the Green Party’s response to concerns over their Zionism motion, he referenced councillor Nathaniel Menday, who was elected for Reform UK in the May council elections but suspended from the party within a matter of days when deleted social media posts of his appearing to celebrate fascism and depicting Nazi imagery like the swastika were discovered.
“He was quite quickly removed from his position by the Reform group. I think the Green Party have to look at their response to some of the social media posts from their councillor,” the mayor added.
Mayor Coppard says that he will always “be a person who prioritises, in my job, Sheffield and South Yorkshire” and believes that this is the position held by most elected representatives in the city.
However, he added: “Two things can be true at once and I think it’s also fair to say that as a person of Jewish descent, a Jewish person in South Yorkshire - and I am first and foremost the Mayor of South Yorkshire, I’m not the ‘Jewish Mayor of South Yorkshire’.
“But just as a Jewish citizen of this place, as a resident who lives here, who’s grown up here, we are a tiny minority of the community of South Yorkshire and Zionism is a central belief to the vast majority of Jewish people in this country.
“So to hear the Green Party say ‘Zionism is racism’ in the unequivocal way that they have feels very difficult for people in the Jewish community.”
In 2019, Mayor Coppard declined to stand for the Labour Party because of ongoing issues surrounding allegations of antisemitism, which he says was “difficult” but ultimately “the right thing to do”.
And while he describes many members of the Green Party as friends who are “trying to do the right thing in difficult circumstances,” he added: “I would just ask them to reflect on the position they are now in and how that makes a minority community in South Yorkshire feel.
“If they can do that they also at the same time have to look at maybe the social media posts of their councillors which I have been really disappointed by if not hurt and angered by.”
Sheffield’s Liberal Democrats have called for Coun Ahmed to be suspended over his social media posts.
A Green Party spokesperson said Coun Ahmed has deleted and “deeply regrets” the 2023 Facebook post.
The party source explained that the councillor was quoting Palestinian writer, Adham Sharkawi, who was calling for “unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.
They said: “The Green Party has processes in place to look into views expressed by members that do not align with Green Party values.”
Coun Ahmed said: “I strongly reject the Jewish Chronicle’s deeply unfair portrayal of me and any suggestion that I harbour hatred towards Jewish people or celebrate violence against innocent people.
"I stand firmly against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism. Justice for Palestinians and the safety and dignity of Jewish people are not competing causes. I will always stand for both.”