A Green Party candidate standing at the next general election blamed Israel for Oct 7, The Telegraph can disclose.
Maddison Wheeldon, who was selected as the party’s candidate for Warrington North last week, said on Tuesday that both Israel and Hamas were “culpable” for the terror attack.
The Greens have been mired in a growing anti-Semitism scandal since the local elections earlier this month, when a number of candidates campaigned on radical anti-Israel platforms that were dubbed “sectarian” by critics.
Ms Wheeldon’s remarks were condemned as “truly noxious anti-Semitism” by MPs and campaigners, who said the party was “protecting racists within” by not expelling them.
The Green Party is understood to be investigating Ms Wheeldon’s remarks. A spokesman said “we will always take any allegations of anti-Semitism within the Green Party seriously”.
On Tuesday, Ms Wheeldon, who describes herself as a freelance digital marketer and “social justice campaigner”, wrote on X that Israel was “also responsible” for Oct 7 because “you can’t trap and bombard people, without expecting them to try to break free”.
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She later added: “Both [Israel and Hamas] are responsible and culpable for Oct 7, just as I know that if I were to lock someone in a room, restricting their food, water and access to freedom, eventually they will come banging on that door ready to lash out.”
It was the latest in a series of public anti-Israel social media posts made by Ms Wheeldon before and after her selection as a parliamentary candidate.
On March 4 on Instagram, she asked: “Does Israel actually want to bring their hostages home?
“Or do they want to maximise the trauma to further legitimise the terrorism and mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza and record breaking murders in the West Bank?
On April 8, the would-be MP said ordinary Israelis “are akin to the Germans that supported the Nazi’s [sic]”.