From the Livingstone Formulation to the Polanski Principle

In 2005, David Hirsh, widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading authorities on antisemitism, coined the term ‘The Livingstone Formulation’, named after the then-mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

In its most straightforward terms, it works as follows. An individual makes a comment which is widely seen as containing antisemitism. When called out on it, however, the individual in question goes on the attack, accusing their questioner of falsely attempting to use the accusation of antisemitism to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel.

Just as antisemitism evolves, however, so too does its useful-idiot twin; namely, gaslighting those who call it out. And in 2026, a new generation has found its very own champion of such efforts; all the more effective because he happens to be Jewish.

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It’s hard to know exactly what Zack Polanski believes, in reality – or whether it makes much of a difference. The most successful Western politicians since the advent of the mass-screen era of civilisation – in the UK, America, or elsewhere – are those who are not just eloquent but manage to get themselves to a point where they genuinely believe what they are saying, sometimes in the face of significant evidence to the contrary. This has, if anything, only worsened since the rise of social media. It has never been easier to find people who are absolutely certain in their beliefs – and now more than ever, certainty is often mistaken for truth.

For a while now there has been a strong sense that Zack Polanski does not take antisemitism – either within the Green Party or in general society – seriously, despite disclaimers to the contrary. In the last 24 hours, that feeling has developed from suspicion to certainty, in the wake of two comments from the Green Party leader.

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The first was posted by Polanski himself onto his social media pages.

“Jewish communities are living in fear amid rising antisemitism, including these appalling arson attacks. We must confront this. At the same time, antisemitism is being weaponised to shut down criticism of the Israeli government. Both true. Both concerning. Both antisemitic.”

I want you to imagine for a minute that a senior Muslim politician, in Reform UK, perhaps, posted the following: “Muslims are living in fear amid rising Islamophobic attacks. We must confront this. At the same time, Islamophobia is being weaponised to shut down criticism of Rotherham rape gangs. Both are true.”

Personally, I don’t believe that the obvious implication of ‘Jews/Muslims being targeted is terrible, but you know what’s also bad? Jews/Muslims using charges of bigotry to falsely silence dedicated truth seekers who hate injustice’ is anything other than hideous. Because the original element (‘this bigotry is wrong’) is the necessary throat clearing before getting to the red meat that the fans want to hear (‘you’re different. What you’re engaging in is right, & bad people are trying to silence you’).

The second statement, however, is potentially even worse – so much so that I believe it is worthy of a new name in its own right – the Polanski Principle.

This week, an interview with Polanski was published by the New Statesman, with a précis provided on social media by his interviewer. Of course, one of the topics raised was that of antisemitism; and Polanski’s response is incredibly revealing.

“Actual cases of antisemitism don’t go challenged” on the left, he says, “because we’re fighting back against the weaponisation of criticism of the Israeli government”. His aim is “to make sure that [the Greens] push back against false allegations of antisemitism, but also make sure that actual antisemitism is also being dealt with”.

Like all of Polanski’s ideas, this is not new. The notion that the far-left, supposedly made up of people possessed of some of the finest anti-racism antennae on the planet, are somehow completely incapable of understanding the nuances of this one type of hatred, has been around for decades. It is a natural extension of the Livingstone Formulation – if only those pesky…Zionists didn’t try to confuse the issue of antisemitism by complaining about genuine criticism of Israel, we doughty fighters of injustice could face down this hatred easily!

But Polanski is the first, as far as I’m aware, to suggest this in the context of a political party. In the same New Statesman interview, he ludicrously claimed that accusations of antisemitism in the Green Party “didn’t pass the sniff test” – I’m sure we all wish him a refuah sheleimah from his politically convenient cold.

For further context, in the last two weeks, stories have emerged about Green Party candidates doing the following: Sharing a picture of Donald Trump which says “I want you to die for Israel – because I’m owned by Jews”, posting about “Jewish cockroaches who were relocated refusing to go back to Gaza”, responding to the longstanding Israel organ harvesting conspiracy theory by saying ““are they trying to use the organs to help alter DNA of Zionists to claim land, ancestory [sic]”, and claiming that ‘the Zionists’ in the USSR ‘killed 20 million Christians’.

There are others. Polanski, who is the most vocally online leader of any significant political party in the UK, posting and sharing dozens of times per day on multiple platforms, has commented on precisely none of them.

Most normal people can differentiate between ‘someone describing criticism of Israel as antisemitic’ and ‘people ostensibly criticising Israel but doing so in an unambiguously antisemitic fashion’. Polanski, while claiming that it’s Israel which is muddying the waters with regards to antisemitism, is in actual fact doing so himself.

Claiming that people are trying to stifle your criticism of Israel via allegations of antisemitism? That’s the Livingstone Formulation. Suggesting the Left is unable to effectively deal with antisemitism because people are somehow unable to distinguish between genuine criticism of Israel and Nazi-grade comments from Green candidates?

Welcome to the Polanski Principle.