Andrée Frieze

Andrée Frieze
Image	Frieze with her husband, former IDF recruit, in 2018.
Born
Died
Nationality
Residence	South West London
Occupation	Councillor, transport policy officer, activist
Known for	Non Portfolio Officer of Jewish Greens, former Leader of the Opposition on Richmond Council
Parents
Spouse(s)
Children
Sibling(s)
Website

Andrée Frieze (born in Australia approx 1968) is a British Green Party of England and Wales politician, former councillor and transport policy officer. She is a Non Portfolio Officer of Jewish Greens and a member of Kingston Liberal Synagogue, whihc is formally Zionist.

Family

She married Shimon Morad in November of 1993 in Kingston Upon Thames. Shimon is an 'Israeli ' citizen and she says 'I met my husband. In India. As you do, when you’re travelling after Uni, or in his case, the army.' this confirms that Morad was in the genocidal occupation forces.

She gives the following account of her childhood and her fascination and eventaul conversion to Judaism:

Having a surname like mine I couldn’t help but wonder about it from an early age. Thus, I grew up in the knowledge that Frieze is a shortened version of Frieszenski (a spelling no one has ever confirmed) and that my paternal great, great grandparents appeared in Leeds in 1870 giving Russia as their birthplace. The family story was, they were Russian- Polish Jews who came to England for a better a life. This was all we knew, and pretty much all we have ever been able to find out.

I didn’t meet my grandparents until I was nine, when we went back to Australia for the first- time since emigrating to London in 1970. My grandfather, Grieg Frieze, called himself a ‘yiddisha kopf’ and had lots of Jewish sayings, but beyond that our family were secular and/or atheist. His mother was originally Irish Catholic, his wife was of English extraction, while my mum’s family was an English/Scottish/German mix.

Why my surname and my Jewish ancestors made more of an impact on me as a child than my other family members I don’t know, but they did. It particularly influenced my choice of reading material as I was often drawn to books about WW2 and the Holocaust. But, actually investigating Judaism as a faith was not something I thought of doing.

Political career

Andrée Frieze was one of the first Green Party councillors elected to Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council in 2018. She served two terms and was Leader of the Opposition (Green Group Leader) for three years. She now works as Transport Policy Officer for the Green Group at the London Assembly (City Hall).

Jewish Greens and views on Zionism

Andrée Frieze is a Non Portfolio Officer of Jewish Greens. She has publicly opposed the Green Party motion A105 (“Zionism is Racism”). In an article titled “Why the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion is antisemitic” she wrote that the motion was antisemitic and would damage the party’s relationship with Jewish members. She has never described herself as anti-Zionist; her public positions align with Jewish Greens’ opposition to blanket equations of Zionism with racism.

Other affiliations

Member of Kingston Liberal Synagogue since at least 2012; formally converted to Judaism in late 2018. As the JC reports: 'She has been an active KLS member since 2012, when she and her Israeli husband Shimon Morad joined the community. Their sons Natan and Guy were barmitzvah at KLS.'

Part-time role with Eco Synagogue (membership coordinator, helping Jewish communities become more environmentally aware). Active participant in Jewish Greens events, including chairing Holocaust Memorial Day events.