Green Party Member Behind Zionism Motion Linked to Al-Qaeda Supporter

Lubna Speitan, the Green Party member who proposed a motion defining Zionism as racism, was named in court documents as a close friend of an individual jailed for supporting al-Qaeda, according to BBC News.

Speitan, a British-Palestinian artist, put forward the motion at a Green Party conference, which passed and declared Zionism an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state." The motion also called for a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine," which includes modern-day Israel.

Court documents from 2015 show Speitan offered to testify as a defense witness for Minh Quang Pham, who was sentenced to 40 years in the United States after pleading guilty to supporting al-Qaeda. Pham denied planning a suicide attack.

In a letter to the New York judge overseeing Pham's case in 2016, Speitan described him as "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere" people she had known. She wrote that if the judge "truly knew the Minh [Pham] that and others grew to love and respect," the case might have been dismissed. She acknowledged Pham may have had behavioral issues but maintained he was one of the most trustworthy individuals she had met.

Pham, a Vietnamese-born British national, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2011 after spending seven months in Yemen. US prosecutors stated he was directed by al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki to detonate explosives. He was extradited to the US in 2015 and sentenced the following year after admitting to charges related to his support for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Court documents listed Speitan as a "close friend" of Pham, whose testimony she offered would be "crucial in establishing a mental health defense." The documents noted a medical condition prevented Speitan from testifying in person. There is no suggestion in the documents that Speitan was aware of Pham's alleged criminal activities at the time of their acquaintance.

Speitan has not commented to the BBC, but The Telegraph reported that when asked if she remained friends with Pham, she replied, "Yes, it's still the case," adding that she believed Pham had been "targeted" by "the system."

The Green Party stated that it takes "all allegations of this nature seriously" and has internal processes to investigate when members express views that do not align with the party's values. Speitan currently holds no official positions within the party.

The motion has drawn criticism, with Israel banning Green leader Zack Polanski from entering the country. Jewish groups have described the motion as an "attack" on their community, and some lawmakers reported the party to Great Britain's equality watchdog. Polanski, who is Jewish, has stated that antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are distinct and that he does not accept party members being excluded based on their religious or communal affiliation.