The Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, has faced criticism for reposting a comment on X that suggested police used excessive force when arresting the suspect in the Golders Green double stabbing. The repost, made without additional comment, referred to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley and implied that officers repeatedly kicked a mentally ill man in the head while he was incapacitated by a Taser.
A Home Office minister condemned the action, stating: 'The Green Party has hit a new low.' The minister added that the Jewish community is grateful to the police for apprehending a knife-wielding terrorist, and described Polanski's stance as 'soft on terrorists'. The Green Party had earlier issued a statement calling the attack 'an appalling act of antisemitic violence' and expressing solidarity with the Jewish community.
Polanski, who is Jewish, has previously faced criticism over his handling of antisemitism within the Green Party. The party is strongly pro-Gaza, and Labour has accused it of accepting members expelled from Labour over antisemitism. This week, two Green candidates in Lambeth were arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred over alleged antisemitic social media posts.
A Green Party source told HuffPost UK that Polanski had seen the video of the arrest like everyone else and did not know the full picture, but added that 'we do need to understand more about the response'. The suspect in the Golders Green attack had been referred to the Prevent counter-extremism scheme in 2020, but his case was closed within six weeks.
