Polanski accused of being ‘all over the place’ on Green Party Zionism policy

Zack Polanski has been accused of being “all over the place” on the Green Party’s motion declaring Zionism a form of racism, after insisting that the policy would remain in effect until at least 2028.

Polanski told “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” that, while he would like to make amendments, “it would be party policy until 2028.”

When asked if he would now intervene as leader to overturn the policy, Polanski responded, “I’m not going to try to overturn it.”

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“At the first available opportunity, I do want to amend it,” he added. “I want to move away from one state, towards saying that Israelis and Palestinians should decide that future for themselves.”

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said:”Zack Polanski remains all over the place. Having failed to muster any leadership over the Green Party’s racist vote on Zionism, he now presides over a party whose own policy he admits even he will disagree with until at least 2028. This is not a tenable situation.

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“Let us remember that, as of now, the Green Party’s platform erases Jewish identity and experience, calls for Israel’s elimination, and tells the vast majority of Jews, who overwhelmingly believe in the right of Israel to exist, that they are not welcome in the party,”   he added.

Polanski said this would not be until 2028 as “you can’t [amend it] within the rules, so when you vote on something in our party conference that’s then policy for two years.”

Kuenssberg asked if he would therefore change the rules as leader, but Polanski said: “I think if members have made a decision, then I respect the democratic will of our members.”

Kuenssberg asked Polanski if he accepted that for many Jewish people, Zionism was the right to have a safe place to live, or a homeland.

“I think that’s what people think it means, but actually in practical application – which is what we’re talking about here – that homeland has come at the cost of the Palestinian people,” Polanski, who is Jewish, said.

“I want equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians – the practical application of Zionism has not resulted in that.”

When questioned if he thought Israel had a right to exist, he said he did not think “any state has a right to exist under international law.”

When asked whether he would apologise for how he handled the row, as Jewish Green Vivien Lichtenstein has asked him to, Polanski said: “I’m not sorry at all.”

Former Green Party co-leader and current MP Adrian Ramsay responded by calling for earlier action.

“I don’t think it’s tenable for us to continue the next two years with this policy that’s been adopted given the huge political distraction that it’s been for our councillors across the country,” he told the BBC News Channel.

“One way forward could be to have a ballot of all party members to establish very clearly where the party as a whole stands – my view is we would see a different answer.”

Polanski had previously said he would not have voted for the motion without two amendments.

Green MPs, including Ellie Chowns, have called for the party’s member-led decision-making procedures to be reviewed given how few people took part in the vote.