Sagal Abdi-Wali’s victory in the UK is an unconventional one

An unconventional political victory. There is no better way to describe the outcome of the by-election in the London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, called to replace former Prime Minister Keir Starmer after he also resigned as an MP. On Thursday evening, the count declared Sagal Abdi-Wali the winner; she, too, is a Labour MP, as indeed have been most of the MPs elected in that constituency since the Second World War. What is new, however, is that Abdi-Wali – born in Somalia, a practising Muslim and wearing a hijab that frames her face – defeated the Green Party leader Zack Polanski, a British Jew descended from Ashkenazi Jews who fled anti-Semitism in continental Europe.

In the midst of the global collective hysteria whereby, whether in local or presidential elections, the debate always ends up centring on Gaza and Israel, even Polanski and Abdi-Wali have weighed in on the matter. They did so, however, taking positions opposite to the prevailing views within their respective religious camps. Polanski, who for the past year has led a party that is more Islamic than environmentalist – and which has been heavily infiltrated by Muslim Corbynites who left Corbyn when he opened the party up to trans people – is the standard-bearer for those who want to see the end of Israel, to be replaced by a binational Arab-Jewish state. This proposal has just been approved by the Greens but has been criticised by the Labour candidate as “highly divisive” and “worrying for anyone who believes in the two-state solution”.

More shrewd than Polanski, during the election campaign Abdi-Wali sidestepped accusations that she had allowed Camden Council, of which she was a member, to do business with Israel; she made it clear that she was close to the Jewish Labour Movement but avoided describing herself as a Zionist. Polanski, on the other hand, risks being seen as not taking a strong enough stand against Israel and may soon have to hand over the post of secretary to his deputy, Mothin Ali: he wears a keffiyeh draped over his shoulder, whilst his wife wears a full-face veil, the niqab.