The arrest of two Green Party candidates over anti-Semitism allegations is “just the tip of the iceberg”, opponents have claimed.

Saiqa Ali and Sabine Mairey, who are both standing for the party in central London, were detained by Met Police officers on Thursday morning.

But The Telegraph can reveal almost 20 Green candidates at next week’s local elections have posted offensive material, with anti-Israel sentiment running deep in the party under Zack Polanski, its leader.

They include one who referred to Jewish people as “cockroaches”, while others expressed support for Palestine Action, a banned terror group.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory chairman, said: “These arrests appear to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to anti-Semitism in the Green Party.

“Zack Polanski needs to step up and start taking action against those in his party who are openly promoting the oldest form of racism: anti-Semitism.”

A Green Party spokesman said: “We are investigating anything brought to our attention that doesn’t fit with Green Party values and views.”

Mothin Ali, the party’s deputy leader, has previously caused controversy by suggesting Hamas were “indigenous people defending themselves” on Oct 7.

Raja Ateeq, who is standing in the Rushall-Shelfield ward in Walsall, posted on social media in December 2023, referring to “Jewish cockroaches”.

When the post was highlighted by the Jewish News, a Green spokesman said: “Mr Ateeq has removed the tweet and recognises that it was wrong to have posted it.”

Joe Belcher, who is running in the same ward as Mr Ateeq, was previously dropped as a Green parliamentary candidate for claiming “the leaders of Israel and Gaza conspired” to carry out the Oct 7 attack “for financial gain”.

A Green Party spokesman said the “old allegations” had been investigated at the time but “we, of course, look at any new complaint seriously”.

Hau-Yu Tam, a councillor in Lewisham, south-east London, reportedly shared a post calling Zionism “the Nazism of our time”, which has since been deleted.

She has also urged her council to boycott Israeli goods and backed a barrister representing Hamas in its effort to overturn its proscription as a terrorist organisation in the UK.

A Green spokesman told The Times the posts “do not reflect the views of the Green Party” and said it had urged Ms Tam to delete them.

Other candidates have also prompted controversy in relation to Hamas.

Zoe Holmon, who is standing in Hackney, east London, headed a fringe event at Labour’s 2023 conference where the audience applauded Hamas and activists said dead terrorists had “ascended to martyrdom”.

Chandni Chopra, a candidate for Heaton, Newcastle, declared three days after the Oct 7 massacre that “Palestinians have the right to defend themselves” with the caption “there would be no Hamas, if there were no occupation”.

Rebecca Jones, a candidate for Blackheath, south-east London, posted on Instagram in July 2024 that Israel was “using infectious diseases to help their genocidal onslaught”.

In a separate post on the same platform a month earlier, she posted an image of a Palestinian flag with the message: “They’re burning babies again.”

Ifhat Shaheen, a candidate in Stoke Newington, north London, suggested online that Israel was harvesting organs from Palestinians.

The Spectator, which first reported the allegations, said Ms Shaheen did not comment. A Green Party spokesman said on that occasion that they would not comment on individual cases.

Several candidates standing for the Greens next week have expressed support for Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terror group in July 2025.

Stephanie Golder, who in August 2025 was one of 64 individuals charged for showing support for the group, is running in Tower Hamlets, east London.

Alistair Binnie-Lubbock, who is standing in Hackney, was reprimanded at a council meeting in October 2025 for a speech in which he described Palestinian prisoners as “hostages” and voiced support for Palestine Action.

Dr Rima Hussein, a candidate in Benwell, Scotswood & Denton Burn, Newcastle, delivered a lecture in February 2026 wearing a T-shirt expressing support for the group.

Laura-Louise Fairley, another Hackney candidate, posted on Instagram in July 2025 that: “Palestine Action are not, and never will be, terrorists. The IDF and Benjamin Netanyahu [sic] are terrorists.”

Ms Fairley is also one of at least two Green candidates to have seemingly voiced support for Bob Vylan, the music duo who caused controversy at Glastonbury Festival in summer 2025 by chanting “death to the IDF” on stage.

On July 1, a few days after the performance, she posted her “full solidarity” to the pair.

Jo Dowbor, who is running in Islington, north London, posted a video in February of her enjoying a Bob Vylan concert before later sharing a selfie captioned “deaf deaf to the IDF”.

Ms Dowbor is one of the founders of the Greens for Palestine group, which was linked to a controversial “Zionism is Racism” motion tabled at the party’s 2026 spring conference.

Other candidates to have backed the motion include Faaiz Hasan, standing in Harrow, north-west London, and George Sheldon Glun, another candidate in Hackney.

A separate motion to remove the Green Party’s definitions of anti-Semitism, tabled at its 2025 autumn conference, was backed by Matthew Parsfield, a candidate in Camden, north-west London.

Other candidates for the party have attracted controversy as a result of those whom they have chosen to share a platform with.

Liam Shrivastava, a candidate in Lewisham, was at an Eid event at the Lewisham Islamic Centre in March that was also attended by Shakeel Begg, who was found by a High Court judge in 2016 to be an “extremist preacher” for encouraging “religious violence”.

Afterwards, Mr Shrivastava posted on Instagram that he was “always inspired by Imam Shakeel and everyone connected to the Lewisham Islamic Centre”.

In Newcastle, another urban area where the Greens are hopeful of success, more candidates’ social media posts about Israel have emerged.

On Friday, the BBC reported online comments posted by Tina Ion under the handle “thereal.anne.frank” in which she referred to “Zionists” as “vermin” and “rats”.

Ms Ion, running in Blakelaw and Cowgate, rejected any accusation of anti-Semitism and said her criticism was not aimed at a religion but at “political ideology and a set of state actions”.

Dr Philip Brookes, a candidate in Manor Park, said that “it takes serious effort not to be a tiny bit anti-Semitic”. He also posted an image of an Israeli flag being torn to reveal a Nazi swastika flag.

A Green spokesman told the Newcastle Chronicle that the posts “do not reflect the views of the Green Party which is rooted in anti-racism and fighting for a better deal for working-class communities”.

Mohammed Suleman, a candidate in Arthur’s Hill, reposted a TikTok video claiming Jewish prisoners of war were willing to bury Soviet prisoners alive under Nazi instruction during the Second World War.

Russell Langer, the director of public affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, said that the “selection of countless candidates with public records of anti-Semitism is unacceptable”.

David Taylor, the Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, added: “The Green Party under Zack Polanski has turned into a vile pit of anti-Semitism, loons and conspiracy theorists not fit for public office.”

Responding to the allegations regarding posts from candidates, Mr Polanski told the BBC that he condemns “whenever there has been any anti-Semitism”.

But he added: “Where you have 4,500 candidates, to have a handful of cases I would say is not some kind of big scandal.”