The Green Party councillor who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ after being elected has been revealed today as a gardening-loving accountant who ranted against the ‘Israeli occupation’ the day after Hamas’s sickening attacks on October 7.
Mothin Ali, 42, declared his election to Leeds Council a ‘win for the people of Gaza’ in a rowdy victory speech where he shouted: ‘We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!’
But the newly-elected politician has become shrouded in further controversy after comments from his TikTok account were unearthed from October 8 – the day after Hamas’ terrorist attack which killed 1,600 and took 250 hostage.
Instead of condemning the attacks, Mr Ali labelled Israel ‘white supremacists’.
The campaigner, who also runs a gardening YouTube channel with his wife and three children, said: ‘The latest round of hostilities started when Hamas fighters started fighting back against Israeli occupation.
Mothin Ali has been revealed today as a gardening-loving accountant who ranted against the ‘Israeli occupation’ the day after Hamas ‘s sickening attacks on October 7
Mr Ali, 42, declared his election to Leeds Council a ‘win for the people of Gaza ‘ in a rowdy victory speech where he shouted: ‘Allahu Akbar!’
But the newly-elected politician has become shrouded in further controversy after comments from his TikTok account were unearthed where he labelled Israel ‘white supremacists’
‘The land was ethnically cleansed by European settler colonialists – white supremacists. When people wanna talk about it you’ve gotta remember it is white supremacy.
‘White supremacists have always done well at portraying the native population as barbarians, as some kind of bloodthirsty savage, that is what they did with the Native Americans, that is how they dehumanised them, that is what they did with the aboriginals, that is how they dehumanised them, that is what they did with the Africans, that is why they were able to take them as slaves.’
The Leeds Beckett University graduate, who is the director of his own accountancy firm, started his TikTok account just before the war in Gaza began and has since then frequently posted his ramblings on the subject.
After his election victory in the Gipton and Harehills seat with 3,070 votes, he claimed people were ‘fed up’ of being ‘let down’ by the Labour council and said his phone has been ‘ringing off the hook’ since the win.
Throughout his victory speech, which has went viral online, there is arguing between the Green members and the other parties at the count – with people heard swearing and told to ‘shut up’.
Mr Ali was one of dozens of candidates who ran on a Gaza ticket at the local elections and managed to defeat a Labour candidate
Mr Ali, who regularly posts videos on his TikTok account, has said on the platform: ‘Every single people have a right to fight back, every single people have a right to live free of occupiers’
The Green Party politician started his TikTok account just before the war in Gaza began and has since then has frequently posted his ramblings on the subject
He shouted in the video: ‘We will not be silenced. We will raise the voice of Gaza. We will raise the voice of Palestine. Allahu Akbar!’
Mr Ali is also a keen gardener and in 2009 founded My Family Garden which is a plot of land growing a variety of organic produce including vegetables from the UK and Bangladesh.
He said his mission is to keep alive the culture and traditional growing techniques that have been passed down to him.
Together with his wife and three children, he runs a YouTube channel dedicated to the garden which has 554 videos uploaded and 53,000 people subscribed.
His most popular video is a tutorial on how to make fast compost at home which has more than 1.2m views.
Mr Ali is also a qualified mufti, which is a Muslim legal expert who is empowered to give rulings on religious matters.
He volunteers at the mosque teaching children Arabic and campaigns against granting more licences to sell alcohol.
The accountant has lived in the Gipton and Harehills ward for 20 years.
Mr Ali is also a qualified mufti, which is a Muslim legal expert who is empowered to give rulings on religious matters
His campaign at the local elections focused on anti-social behaviour, housing and community welfare, and community equality – according to the Green Party website
His campaign at the local elections focused on anti-social behaviour, housing and community welfare, and community equality, according to the Green Party website.
It is not the first time Mr Ali has caused controversy with his comments on social media.
In February he created a video that branded a Jewish chaplain ‘this creep,’ calling him a ‘kind of animal,’ an ‘absolute low-life,’ ‘absolutely disgusting’ and ‘shameful,’ and falsely claiming that he had, in recent weeks, deliberately attempted to ‘kill women and children’ in Gaza.
The Rabbi, who is Leeds University’s Jewish Chaplain, was forced to go into hiding with his family after threats were made against him when he returned to the university after temporarily serving in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
Mr Ali also posted another video to TikTok on October 8 suggesting that Hamas’ atrocities were justified because ‘Palestinians have the right to resist occupying forces’. He urged viewers to ‘support the right of indigenous people to fight back’.
He also claimed Gaza was ‘the biggest concentration camp the world has ever seen’ and accused Israel of trying to ‘erase the legitimacy of the native population’.
The new councillor said: ‘Every single person, every single people have a right to fight back, every single people have a right to live free of occupiers.
‘That includes people who are brown, that includes people who are Muslim, that includes people who are Arab.
Mothin Ali made a Tiktok video calling a Jewish chaplain ‘this creep,’ calling him a ‘kind of animal’ in February
Rabbi Zecharia and wife Nava Deutsch, pictured, and their two young children were moved to a safe location on police advice amid the shocking hate campaign
‘Just because they are brown and Arab doesn’t mean they don’t have a right to fight back.’
Mr Ali declined to comment today when approached by . The Green Party has been contacted for comment.
He was one of dozens of candidates who ran on a Gaza ticket at the local elections and managed to defeat a Labour candidate.
Despite gains all over England from the Tories in the local elections, Labour lost control of Greater Manchester town Oldham after gains by Independents, some of whom abandoned Sir Keir’s party over Gaza.
Naheed Zohra Gultasib held her seat in the Pleck ward of Walsall. The politician was one of six Labour councillors in the local authority who quit the party in November over Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
She said in her victory speech: ‘This is for Gaza, this is for Palestine. You showed [Labour] that they cannot take your vote for granted.’
Akhmed Yakoob, a pro-Palestinian independent candidate running for West Midlands mayor, secured nearly 20 per cent of the vote in the Birmingham area.
Labour support plummeted in areas with a high Muslim population across the country.
Wards in council areas with the highest proportion of Muslim voters such as Blackburn, Bradford, Pendle, Oldham and Manchester, showed Labour support dropped by an average of 25 per cent.
Wards with Muslim populations higher than 10 per cent in Pendle saw Labour support decline, on average, by 43 per cent.
The electoral results could be a cause of concern for Mr Starmer as the hemorrhaging of votes could cost him valuable seats at this year’s upcoming general election.
The Labour leader has faced calls to change his policy on Gaza to win back Muslim support and it is understood members of his shadow Cabinet will raise the issue with him again in the coming days.
However, some polling experts believe that Muslim voters who have turned away from Labour this week are likely to have a ‘limited impact’ on results in the general election.
Chris Hopkins, the political research director at Savanta, told The Telegraph: ‘Labour’s vote falling away in some Muslim areas shows that the party still has plenty of work to do among some communities over its response to the conflict in Gaza.
Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls to change his policy on Gaza to win back Muslim support
Leader of the Workers Party of Britain George Galloway stands with supporters and party candidates as he commits to hundreds of candidates in the general election
‘That said, it’s likely to have a limited impact at a general election, when constituencies are larger and the vote determines the next government rather than local authority control.’
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners and a former Downing Street pollster, said the places of most Muslim voters tended to already be in safe Labour seats so the protest votes might not have a huge effect.
But he pointed to one survey which found one in four British Muslims name the Israel/Palestine conflict as their most important election issue compared with just three per cent of the public.
Pat McFadden has admitted the crisis in Gaza has been an ‘issue’ and ‘does get raised’ when asked about Labour’s loss of control in Oldham.
The party’s national campaign coordinator told BBC Breakfast over the weekend: ‘I do think that’s been a factor in some places, I don’t think there’s any point in denying that. It does get raised, and I understand why people have strong feelings about that.’
He said that with ‘so many innocent people being killed I’m not surprised people have strong feelings about that’.
But Mr McFadden added: ‘In addition to the Middle East issue which you mentioned there are specific very local factors in Oldham which have knocked it out of line with the Labour gains we’ve been seeing in local elections.’
Former Labour MP George Galloway has also sought to capitalise on the Gaza issue, winning the Rochdale by-election in February and saying he will challenge Labour with a series of pro-Palestinian candidates at the general election.
It comes after figures released by Labour’s National Executive Committee last month showed the party has suffered an exodus of more than 23,000 members in the previous two months.
Radical left wing group Momentum warned Sir Keir ‘is alienating swathes of Labour’s core support’ and that alarm bells should be ringing within the party.
There has also been a mass walkout of at least 70 councillors which caused Labour to lose control of councils in Oxford, Hastings, Norwich, and Burnley.
In November, 56 Labour MPs defied Sir Keir to vote for the SNP’s call for a ceasefire, with 10 frontbenchers quitting.
Jess Phillips was one of the most high profile shadow ministers to sensationally quit.