Birmingham political activist caught on camera telling voters ‘Zionists control everything’

“Whilst he was speaking to voters, and our cameras were still rolling, we heard him repeating conspiracy theories widely acknowledged to be antisemitic.”

When confronted by journalists after the comment was recorded, the broadcaster said Yakoob stood by his comments, that he did not think it was antisemitic and it was something he said regularly.

Yakoob has repeatedly drawn criticism for statements about Zionism and Israel. In a video posted in February, he said: “Zionism has a goal to divide people of all faiths, be it Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, all faiths, to divide people of all faiths, to run their narratives everywhere and eventually rule everything.”

In a speech from 2024, he claimed that “Allah” put him in a position “to challenge the Zionist regime, challenge the elites of this country and the world… We live in a world that slowly is getting controlled by these elites.”

He has consistently rejected allegations that he or his comments are antisemitic. In the video from earlier this year he said: “I can't be antisemitic because I am a Muslim. Our forefathers are the same, which is the Prophet Abraham. Peace be upon him. So, we can never be antisemitic as Muslims. Remember that.”

Once a pro-Gaza independent candidate himself, Yakoob came in third in the 2024 elections to be mayor of the West Midlands and, at the general election, reduced now-Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s majority in her Birmingham Ladywood constituency from 28,582 in 2019 to 3,421.