Jewish Green councillor in Hackney branded Israel’s actions a ‘betrayal of Jewish values’

“In the 160s BCE, Judea was a vassal state of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus IV oppressed the Jews by banning our religion, taking our land, & turning our temple into a temple of Zeus. This sparked a revolt led by a man called Maccabee. His followers, the Maccabees, couldn't take on a whole empire, so took part in guerilla warfare and small battles”, she said.

She went on: “What is going around my head this year is how a people who had their very existence banned stood up to their oppressors. Who persisted, even against great odds. A people who demanded autonomy and self-determination. As a Jew, I deeply resonate with this. I grew up hearing about how my family survived pogroms, how they'd been forced out of their homes many times. There is deep generational trauma that gives us an anxiety that no matter how safe we are, gentiles are a hair's breadth from turning against us. I want to be a Maccabee.”

Schechter then blasted Israel’s actions, saying: “to see the modern state of Israel committing these same horrors brings me shame. It is a chillul hashem – a betrayal of Jewish values. Palestinians are far closer to the Maccabees than we are right now. As a member of the Jewish diaspora, I have no desire to live in Israel. I would much rather focus my efforts making my home in Britain safe from fascists and antisemitism, ending the fear of violence and once again having to and leave as so many of my family have done.”

The Green Party’s election victory has caused some concern among Jewish residents of Hackney – which is home to a sizeable Charedi community.

In 2025, Green councillors in the borough – including now-Mayor Zoe Garbett – were criticised for backing a motion which labelled Israel “genocidal” shortly after the Heaton Park terror attack.

The party has also called for the borough to de-twin from the Israeli city of Haifa – a mixed Jewish and Arab city.

In her victory speech, Garbett said her victory was in part because of voters who were “sick of politicians… supporting genocide”.

Schechter herself has previously spoken about experiencing antisemitism and being the target of the far right.

In 2022 she appeared on the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s podcast and said she got “so much” antisemitic abuse online, adding: “I’ve had to build up a very thick skin because it's very difficult to not be online in this day and age.”

She continued: “It happens all the time, like for example, the Vagina Museum shared a post which was about international women's day and we were talking about some trans women from history and somebody replied to that post saying ‘imagine my surprise that I found out the founder’s Jewish’”.

Shockingly, Schechter also said that she had to limit comments on her YouTube videos “because of rape and death threats” and said that she was listed on a far-right website.

However, she joked that she was upset that they categorised her as “low influence”: “if you're gonna be antisemitic towards me at least give me the props i deserve”, she added.

When contacted for comment, Schechter told the JC: “I hold my Jewish values close to my heart, and it is those values that guide me in my opposition to the actions of the State of Israel against innocent Palestinian people.

“In this post, I was commenting on social media in 2024 in a personal capacity. One of the core tenets of Judaism is the sanctity of life, and yet at least 70,000 innocent Palestinian people have died since 2023 at the hands of the Israeli state - a contravention of the sixth commandment. As a new councillor in Hackney, my focus is on the people of Hackney, guided by my Jewish values of peace and compassion.”