Green Party candidate accused of antisemitism
Tina IonWarning: This article contains detail some readers may find distressing.
A Green Party candidate has been accused of antisemitism in posts published online calling for "every single Zionist" to be killed.
Tina Ion, from Newcastle, said she published the posts on social media platform Threads under the handle "thereal.anne.frank".
Some posts referred to "Zionists" as "vermin" and "rats", while another referenced negative stereotypes about Jewish people.
Ion said the posts circulating online were "isolated fragments" of her statements, rejected "any accusation of antisemitism", and said her criticism was not aimed at a religion but at "political ideology and a set of state actions".
Thereal.anne.frank account used as its profile picture an image of a young woman wearing a keffieh - a traditional Middle Eastern headdress.
The account's profile picture was of a young woman in a scarf, which one of the posts claimed was "because Ann Frank wearing a keffieh pisses Zionists off".
Other posts, which seem to have been published by Ion, included a picture of an industrial shredding machine, which she called a "Zionist juicer".
'Dehumanising language'
Ion, who is standing in Newcastle City Council's Blakelaw and Cowgate ward, said isolated fragments of her statements had been used to "distort" her core values and said she had stated her solidarity with Jewish people throughout her life.
"My criticism is not directed at an ethnicity or a religion; it is directed at a political ideology and a set of state actions," she said.
"The common denominator among those I criticise - from Zionist Jewish hardliners to Western supporters and our own government - is not their culture, but their active support for what the International Court of Justice has deemed a 'plausible risk of genocide'.
She acknowledged she had used "dehumanising language" after she claimed to have experienced "moments of raw, unshielded grief" after she watched live-streamed imaged of children being killed.
Ion also claimed the selected posts, which have been circulated online, were part of "a weaponised narrative designed to undermine" her and the Green Party.
Steve CookeThereal.anne.frank account is no longer visible.
Meta, the parent company which owns Threads, said the account had now been disabled for violating its guidelines on hate speech and glorifying violence.
Steve Cooke - a Labour activist - was one of the first to criticise the posts online.
He described the posts as "classic antisemitic abuse" and said Ion was "hiding behind the Z-word".
He called on the Green Party to stop backing her as a candidate in the 7 May elections.
A Green Party spokesperson said it had referred complaints about social media posts by some of its local election candidates to the Green Party of England and Wales, which was now investigating.
They said the Newcastle Green Party stands in solidarity with both the Jewish community and the Palestinian people and those "commitments are not in tension".
The party said it would "not allow antisemitism to go unchallenged" and was organising antisemitism training for its members.
The Newcastle branch of the party came under fire last week after three of its candidates were accused of antisemitism.
Party leader Zack Polanski later said he condemned antisemitism and had confidence in 99% of his local election candidates.
Newcastle's candidates standing in the Blakelaw and Cowgate ward are:
- Dawn Brown - Conservative and Unionist Party
- Rachel Davison - Reform UK
- Aurora Harrison - Green Party
- Frances Hinton - Green Party
- Gavin William Hutchinson - Reform UK
- Tina Ion - Green Party
- Karen Louise Kilgour - Labour Party
- Brian McGreevy - Liberal Democrats
- Michael James O'Dowd - Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
- Lauren Alexandra Florence Proctor - Liberal Democrats
- Juna Sathian - Labour Party
- Bill Schardt - Liberal Democrats
- Ian Tokell - Labour Party
- Irene Turnbull - Reform UK
- Marion Williams - Independent
