Green Party leader Zack Polanski has faced fresh criticism after repeatedly refusing to say whether Israel has the right to exist. The party leader dodged numerous questions about the very existence of the Israeli state in the aftermath of his by-election humiliation by Labour.
The party leader missed the crucial conference vote that endorsed a policy effectively calling for Israel to be abolished and replaced with a single Palestinian state. Former leader Caroline Lucas said Mr Polanski “should have been there and he should have voted”, while former co-leader Adrian Ramsay has called for the party to get “back on track” and return to its “core purpose” of championing environmental causes.
BBC Radio 4 Interview
Mr Polanski was pressed during a BBC Radio 4 Today programme interview with host Nick Robinson. Mr Robinson said: “What we are talking about is whether a state created by the United Nations, in the aftermath of pogroms and Holocaust, the worst act of racism in the history of the planet, has a right to exist.
“This is a question you have always dodged. Will you now say that you think there ought to be a safe home for Jews in a state called Israel?”
Mr Polanski responded: “I believe everyone deserves a safe home, and I’ve not dodged the question.”
Mr Robinson hit back: “What’s the answer?”
A squirming Mr Polanski continued: “This motion was co-proposed by a Holocaust survivor.”
The BBC presenter continued: “That doesn’t prove anything, what’s the answer? Do you think that the state of Israel, as a safe home for Jews after the Holocaust and after the pogroms, has a right to exist?”
The Green Party leader insisted: “I believe Israelis and Palestinians should have equal rights in a democracy.”
Further Evasion
Mr Robinson pressed: “Mr Polanski, why are you avoiding the question?”
Mr Polanski said: “Because, right now, Israel is a one-state apartheid state.”
Mr Robinson continued: “Why are you avoiding the question?”
But the Green Party leader said: “The Palestinians don’t have democracy and they don’t have the right to vote for their government.”
The increasingly exasperated BBC host said: “Why do you think it is not a very simple answer to say ‘yes, I believe in Israel as a safe home for the Jewish people, even though I loathe what they are doing now?’”
Mr Polanski said: “I don’t believe that any state has the right to oppress or to commit apartheid and certainly not genocide, on another people.”
Asked if he supported the motion, he said: “I would have supported the motion as amended. It wasn’t amended, so no.”
But he added: “Ultimately, I agree with the substance of the motion. Where I disagree is the idea the Green Party should be deciding what the future of the region looks like.”
By-Election Defeat
The Green Party leader was defeated in Holborn and St Pancras by Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali, who retained the north London seat for Labour. She secured 45% of the vote to the Greens’ 33%, a majority of 3,364. However, there was a 13% swing to the Greens, whose vote share was up by 22.4%.
Ms Lucas, who was the Green Party’s first MP, said people should “see what happens in the coming days and weeks” when asked about Mr Polanski’s future on Thursday night’s BBC Newsnight. She pointed to Mr Polanski’s failure to take part in the controversial anti-Zionism motion on Sunday, saying he “should have been there and he should have voted”.
Labour MP David Taylor said: “Voters have rejected the Green Party's dangerous politics of hate and division. Every day, people are fed up with the far-Left's antisemitism and anti-Western obsession.”
“Zack Polanski and his deputy leaders have dragged the Green Party to a weird and dark place, much like Jeremy Corbyn did to the Labour Party. Their extreme dogma has thankfully left them on the fringes, where they must remain for the good of our country.”
Fellow Labour MP Luke Akehurst said: “Voters in Holborn and St Pancras decisively rejected the Greens, not least following their disgraceful 'Zionism is racism' motion. Political stances that breach the IHRA definition of antisemitism are as toxic and damaging to their proponents now as they were in the Corbyn era.”
