Green Party elects Jewish non-Zionist Zack Polanski as new leader
The former Liberal Democrat has previously said: 'I’m very proud to be Jewish..., but I’m certainly not a Zionist'
Zack Polanski – who has previously said he is “proud to be Jewish” but is “certainly not a Zionist” – has been elected as new leader of the Green Party.
The vegan London Assembly member beat joint candidates Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, in a members vote on the back of his “eco-populist” agenda for the party.
In a commanding victory the 42 year-old won with a vote of 20,411 members, a vast majority over the 3,705 votes cast for Ramsay and Chowns, who are two of the Greens’ four MPs.
The Leeds councillor who hailed the “end of white settler colonialism” on October 7 was also elected as the deputy leader of the Greens, the party confirmed.
Mothin Ali previously defended the right of “indigenous people to fight back” after October 7, while, on the day of the attack, he wrote on X: “White supremacist European settler colonialism must end.”
In his acceptance speech, new leader Polanski claimed the Greens would now “replace” the Labour government, which he accused of supporting “the genocide in Gaza”.
He later added:”The Green Party now has a Jewish leader, and a Muslim deputy leader.
“We recognise that antisemitism and Islamophobia are two sides of the same coin… when communities ask for solidarity, including the trans community, the only authentic response is to give that solidarity”.
Born David Paulden in Salford, Greater Manchester, Polanski, who has worked as an actor, changed his name at the age of 18.
“My stepdad was called David, and I didn’t like being a little version of my stepdad,” he once told Big Issue magazine, opting instead for the first name of Zack.
This was, he revealed, in tribute to the Jewish refugee Zach in Michelle Magorian’s wartime evacuation novel, Goodnight Mister Tom.
He also switched back to using Polanski — his grandfather’s original surname which had been changed in response to fears about rising antisemitism in Britain on their arrival at the start of the last century.
In 2018, Polanski also gave a series of interview in which he lambasted then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of the antisemitism crisis, and over his failure to come out against Brexit.
Defiantly, Polanski said the as being both “pro-European” and a “Jew” there were “two reasons” for his opposition to Corbyn.
He has also spoken of his pride at becoming the ” first Jewish and gay” person in British history to have been deputy leader of the Greens.
Polanski’s views around Israel and Zionism have also changed.
Writing for the Bright Green activist website in October 2020, he came out strongly in favour of the party adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
It was important to do so, argued Polanski “to send a clear message to Jewish communities both in the party and in the wider world that we stand in solidarity with them.”
He also defended IHRA over claims it stifles free speech and criticism of Israel adding: “This comes up most prominently with the IHRA’s reference to ‘racist endeavour.’
“Let’s be clear about what the definition is doing here. If your view is that states like the USA and Israel with settler colonial origins are fundamentally flawed then the IHRA is there to protect your point of view.
“What it will not defend though is arguing that the state of Israel’s Jewish origins make it uniquely problematic, or more insidiously responsible for all the evils of the world – for example Trump’s treatment of refugees and indeed Theresa May’s ‘Go Home’ vans.”
But this position seems far-removed from Polanski’s stance on Israel today.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza war in response to the October 7th Hamas attacks in southern Israel, appears to be the main driving force for this change.
Last May, in an interview with the Guardian he confirmed growing up in a “a very Zionist household, raised to really believe that Israel was the centre of everything and must be defended at all costs. And that’s very different to my politics now.” ‘I thought politics was a dirty thing’ –
Polanski added: “I very much identify as Jewish, I’m very proud to be Jewish, I’m very much involved in Jewish cultures, but I’m certainly not a Zionist.”
Speaking in another interview around the same time he reasoned his view on the Jewish state has changed because “Israel has changed.”
He has also branded the Board of Deputies as “the Board of Deputies for the Israeli Government”.
But sources at the communal organisation say Polanski worked closely with its sister organisation the London Jewish Forum only a few years ago.
In an attempt to pick up further support from the far-left, Polanski has spoken out in support of those demonstrating against the proscription of Palestine Action.
He has also addressed several events held by the non-Zionist Na’amod communal group.
Polanski’s first political moves were as a member of the Liberal Democrats, where he represented the party in the 2016 elections to the Greater London Assembly.
Sources within the Lib Dems suggest his political leanings back then were not with the party’s more left-leaning wing, but instead with the wing that jumped enthusiastically into bed with the Conservatives under Nick Clegg.
But his frustrations with Lib Dems grew , and after Polanski found out he had not been selected as a possible parliamentary candidate for the LibDems, he jumped ship and joined the Greens in 2017.
After being elected Green Party deputy leader in 2022, Polanski surprised the party hierarchy by launching his leadership bid in May.
An incident that has dogged him and reared its head again when he announced his leadership intentions is a 2013 Sun article entitled “TIT-NOTISED: Can you really THINK your boobs bigger?”
In it, a Sun journalist who posed as a client wrote that Polanski, then working as a hypnotherapist at a London Harley Street practice, boosted her bust size through hypnotherapy.
Polanski has apologised for the experiment, which he said he did not charge for and was misrepresented by the newspaper.
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