“Do not belittle what has happened. The occupiers themselves have admitted that what happened was astonishing and shocking. So don't be more Jewish than the Jews!” the post read.
The JC also reported on another post in which Ahmed appeared to celebrate Iranian missile strikes on Israel.
At the time, a Green Party source told this newspaper that the post was about “unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian cause”.
Now Ahmed has shared the original text again, saying he should not have been advised to remove it and claiming that the Arab word “Yahud” does not really mean Jew.
“Following the initial reporting, I was poorly advised to take down the 2023 repost and issue a response; having since taken advice, I am clarifying my position without equivocation.
"The accusation of antisemitism regarding my repost of Palestinian writer Adham Sharkawi relies on a deliberate distortion of language.”
He claimed that, in Palestinian vernacular, “Yahud is routinely used to denote the Israeli state and its apparatus rather than Jewish people collectively, a linguistic reality acknowledged by mainstream broadcasters, including the BBC.”
He said: “Stripping an Arabic text of its cultural and political context to manufacture a controversy is a bad-faith tactic aimed at policing language and suppressing anti-colonial speech.”
Ahmed said he is “prepared to take the necessary actions against those who continue to attack me.”
“I correct the record plainly: political dissent against state oppression will not be silenced by manufactured outrage, and I stand firmly behind the right to advocate for Palestinian liberation.
"I therefore reshare my initial post which has deliberately been used to target me in a vicious witch hunt against those on the right side of history.”
Ahmed reposted the Arabic comment on Thursday (Facebook)[Missing Credit]
His statement did not address the second post highlighted by the JC, in which he appeared to celebrate violence against Israel.
On June 15, 2025, as Iranian missiles struck Israeli cities during the 12-day war, Ahmed posted a TikTok video showing devastation in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas.
Images of buildings reduced to rubble and streets torn apart by ballistic missiles were accompanied by the caption: “Tel Aviv all praise is due to Allah a victory from Allah”.
The audio featured an Arabic prayer that included the words: “O Allah, deal with the criminal Zionists. O Allah, deal with the aggressor Jews.”
Sheffield Greens have referred Ahmed to the party’s national investigative body over his social media.
In a statement, Sheffield Greens said: “The Green Party takes antisemitism very seriously…
"We believe in fairness, due process and ensuring that all evidence is properly verified before outcomes are reached, and not prejudging before conclusions are made.”
The council’s Labour leader Fran Belbin said Ahmed’s posts had been the final straw for coalition talks following the party’s adoption of the “Zionism is racism” motion, which Ahmed had supported.
Belbin described the councillors views as “incompatible with Sheffield Labour's central belief that Palestinians and Israelis should have the right to self-determination”, adding that “minority communities in Sheffield need to be able to live in safety and security.”
Criticising the Greens’ response, she went on: “Any other party would have condemned his words and suspended him immediately.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the national Green Party said the prime minister had “ridden roughshod over local democracy and collapsed Sheffield’s council partnership”, and accused Labour of “bullying” its councillors into ending coalition agreements.
A spokesperson said: “The Labour government is arming a genocide and arresting pensioners for holding up paper signs; we will take no lectures from them.
“Sheffield Greens were prepared to put local people first and work together for the good of the city. This is a slap in the face to people in Sheffield who rely on a functioning council for bin collections and other essential services.”
