Birmingham Greens have launched a defence of their under-fire new city councillor Kamel Hawwash amid more calls for him to be axed from his cabinet role on the city council.
MP Al Carns leads attack
Leading the attack on Kamel Hawwash is Birmingham Selly Oak MP Al Carns - currently making headlines after his dramatic resignation from Keir Starmer's Labour government and tipped as a potential future Prime Minister candidate. Just before he resigned yesterday, Carns posted a video attacking Hawwash, who was elected to represent the Stirchley ward, which is in Carn's constituency.
He cited historic social media posts in which Hawwash had referred to two members of Hamas, the proscribed terrorist organisation from Palestine, as 'martyrs'. He also posted a tweeted reply by Hawwash in the aftermath of the October 7 attack which suggested Israel had 'killed their own people including children'.
Hawwash, of Palestinian heritage, has a long history of campaigning for his family's homeland and rejecting Israel's right to land. He denies being antisemitic.
Carns criticises Greens
In his video, Carns says of him: "This was not one bad tweet. This was years and years of it." He criticises the Green party for backing him for election, and said of the party: "It's not about bins, it's not about bike lanes....this is who the Greens are now. They will put a man who calls Hamas leaders 'martyrs' on the ballot paper."
He further takes aim at new council leader Roger Harmer, Lib Dems, part of the Lib Dem/Greens/Independents coalition that has formed the administration overseeing the council. He says Harmer 'knew all this' and still put Hawwash into the council cabinet as member in charge of children, young people and families. He adds: "Birmingham deserves better than this and the Jewish families who built this city deserve answers."
Greens hit back
Now the Greens in Birmingham, led by deputy council leader Julien Pritchard, have hit back, claiming Hawwash is being unfairly targeted. In a statement today they said: "The Birmingham City Council Green Group is entirely focused on delivering for the people of Birmingham in partnership with our coalition colleagues. Rather than engaging constructively in that effort, the Labour Group chose to walk away from coalition negotiations. This appears to be because of instructions issued by the Labour Party nationally to council groups across the country."
"Recent attacks on Green councillors appear to be part of cynical attempts to undermine the new coalition administration. To be clear, all members of the Birmingham City Council Green Group are fully committed to the coalition agreement, which states: 'We are proud to represent all the communities in our city in all their diversity. We pledge to stand against all forms of hate, including antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism and stand up for all of Birmingham's diverse communities, regardless of race, faith, gender, sexuality or economic background. As councillors we will always seek to use our positions to bring communities together.'"
The group said: "It is disappointing that Labour appears more interested in political point-scoring than in helping deliver for Birmingham residents, particularly given the previous Labour administration's failure to resolve the bin strike dispute for over 15 months, their well documented financial issues, and their slashing of services. It has been especially disappointing to see Labour MP for Selly Oak, Al Cairns, contributing to this campaign. We can only assume that the council election results in the Selly Oak constituency in the recent election, where Greens came first, have made him concerned about losing his seat to the Greens at the next General Election. This divisive approach won't succeed. Our focus remains on delivering for Birmingham residents and getting on with the job people elected us to do."
Fellow councillor attacks Carns
Separately, fellow Green councillor Duncan Ali, who was elected on May 7 to represent Balsall Heath West, has launched his own personal attack on Carns as a member of the government that he says has been 'complicit in the genocide of Palestinians'. Carns quit his role as Armed Forces minister last night, linked to his dismay over the government's new defence investment plan and lack of funding for the armed services. Said Councillor Ali: "Carns was part of a government that fought in court to continue supplying arms to a state standing trial for genocide before the International Court of Justice."
He said: "Carns’ cynical attempt to hound Birmingham’s first Palestinian councillor out of public life through a mixture of decontextualised quotations, misrepresentation and outright fabrication is entirely consistent with his broader disregard for Palestinians. If Al Carns possessed even the most basic respect for Palestinian lives, he would have resigned rather than serve in a government enabling genocide." He calls on Carns to "retract his smears against my friend and colleague Kamel Hawwash, who has unequivocally condemned all attacks on civilians and defended international law."
Hawwash defends record
Councillor Hawwash has previously defended his record and campaigning zeal. Jewish community leaders in Birmingham had called on coalition administration leaders not to give him any position of influence because of his anti-Israel activism. Ruth Jacobs, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Birmingham and West Midlands, said recent attacks on Jewish people and at synagogues across the country had left people 'extremely concerned for our safety'. She said: "The promotion of Coun Hawwash to any position in the council administration is totally unacceptable."
