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The Green Party has initiated an inquiry into one of its members, Lubna Speitan, after reports surfaced linking her as a “close friend” to a man later imprisoned for supporting al-Qaeda, according to court records. Speitan had previously introduced a divisive motion at a Green Party conference that characterized Zionism as a form of racism.
Although Speitan denied the allegations in an Instagram post before the party officially confirmed the investigation, she expressed frustration at what she described as efforts to misrepresent her past statements. “I reject all defamatory and nonsense claims made about me,” she stated, adding, “This is a classic distraction. I am not the conversation. Racism is. Zionism is. The ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians is. Let’s talk about that.”
The motion she proposed, which passed with a vote of 1,022 to 813, defined Zionism as an ideology promoting “an ethnonationalist Jewish state” and called for the establishment of “a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine.” While motions supported by party members become official Green Party policy, they are not guaranteed to be part of the party’s general election manifesto. The motion drew criticism from opposition parties and various Jewish groups, who viewed it as an attack on the Jewish community. Additionally, four out of five Green Party MPs voted against the motion.
Former Green Party leader and MP Adrian Ramsay described the motion as an “unhelpful distraction” and “wrong in principle,” emphasizing the party’s commitment to the right of self-determination for all peoples. When questioned about the possibility of leaving the party, Ramsay responded that he was “not ruling anything in or out at this stage” and said he was consulting colleagues, including Jewish Greens and other party leaders, about how to move forward.
Further controversy arose following reports from the Jewish Chronicle revealing a 2015 letter from Speitan offering to testify as a defense witness in the trial of Minh Quang Pham. Pham had been convicted in the United States for supporting al-Qaeda after being trained by the group’s leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. US court documents listed Speitan as a “close friend” capable of providing “critical testimony regarding Pham’s mental state.” In one letter to a US District Judge, Speitan praised Pham as “one of the kindest, honest, most sincere, trustworthy and respectful people I have ever known,” despite acknowledging he may have had some behavioral issues.
There is no indication in the court documents that Speitan was aware of Pham’s criminal activities during the time of their acquaintance. Following the disclosure of these details, the Green Party reiterated that it has internal procedures to investigate any members whose views conflict with party values. An official party statement confirmed that “an investigation is under way” and noted that Lubna Speitan holds no official positions within the party beyond general membership
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