The national spotlight is being shone on Isle of Wight parish councillor Sophus Magill, who allegedly created a private Green Party WhatsApp group where members discussed ‘killing Zionists’ and described British Jews as a ‘weapon of Israel’.
Magill, who was co-opted, rather than elected, onto Wootton Bridge Parish Council in January this year, made the comments in a private WhatsApp group called Greens Against Imperialism, which he created.
The messages were revealed by The Times newspaper on Monday and have since been reported by The Telegraph, with the national newspapers highlighting a series of controversial comments about Israel, Zionism and British Jews.
During one exchange, Magill – who unsuccessfully stood for the Green Party in the Fairlee and Whippingham ward in May’s Isle of Wight Council local elections – is said to have written that ‘Zionism has to go’, adding:
“The only solution is one equal state.”
When another participant asked whether that meant wanting Israel ‘wiped off the map, in essence?’, Magill replied:
“Yes, I would like that.”
He went on to say he did not consider it violent to want what he described as an “illegitimate apartheid state gone from all maps”, comparing Israel with Rhodesia.
Magill added that Israeli citizens who were not war criminals and agreed to coexist peacefully with Palestinians had a right to live there.
Other members of the group created by Magill made still more inflammatory comments. One discussed whether being an ‘extreme anti-zionist’ could mean supporting ‘killing Zionists’, while another described British Jews as a ‘brilliant weapon’ for the Israeli state.
Another discussion referred to the majority of Israeli Jews as ‘genociders’ and described hostility towards Jews arising from the conflict as ‘understandable’.
It is not the first time Magill has been linked to controversial Green Party WhatsApp campaigning…
In June, the Jewish Chronicle revealed that Magill had distributed a letter opposing moves which could lead to action against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The campaign came despite serious concerns over Iranian activity in Britain. MI5 had revealed that UK authorities had responded to at least 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots since 2022.
The IRGC has been accused of backing terrorist organisations and plotting attacks overseas. The United States has designated it a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, while the European Union designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation earlier this year.
Despite this, the letter distributed by Magill declared:
“The IRGC is not a terrorist organisation; it is a national institution on the front line of a brutal, illegal war fuelled and cheered on by our own government, protecting its nation and people from Western warmongering.
“To support this proscription is to support this genocidal Israeli plan… It makes the Green Party complicit in the violence of US imperialism.”
Magill has meanwhile become a prominent figure in anti-racism campaigning on the Isle of Wight.
He has been involved with Isle of Wight Stand Up To Racism and took part in protests during Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s visit to the Island, accusing Reform of promoting far-right-wing politics and contributing to a ‘culture of hate and division’.
A spokesperson for The Green Party has told The Times:
“We do not comment on internal party forums or discussions on WhatsApp groups that are not official party group channels.”
Island Echo has approached Wootton Bridge Parish Council for comment.
I mean just look at the fucking state of it what a deranged party they are…
Hopefully details will also be of interest to the Police as what has been said amounts to hate crime!
What a truly disgusting individual. How anyone can be so uninformed and absolutely pig-ignorant is beyond me.
It’s stupid little bastards like this, that are ruining Britain.. they live in cuckoo land.. get a proper job dipstick and in your spare time read up on history perhaps you will learn something