VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: Where Corbyn’s Labour led, Polanski’s Greens followed
A battered and bruised Jewish mainstream, scarred from years of fighting far-left antisemitism in Labour, now faces its rebirth
No-one who has seen the Green Party’s sharp further leftward turn will be shocked at the revelations about the behaviour of certain council candidates detailed in this week’s paper. They may, however, be surprised at the party’s internal response.
As reported by The Telegraph, Mothin Ali, the party’s deputy leader, had the following to say in the “Greens for Palestine” group, after it was announced a “support group” was being set up “for any candidate experiencing smears from the press”:
“Anyone currently being attacked in the media should know that the only reason for the smears are that you are making the right type of noise, you put fear into the heart of the establishment. And more than anything, know that you are not alone.”
That is an interesting way to refer to those sharing social media posts which include the claim that “Zionists” were responsible for 9/11, justifications for 7 October, or that Benjamin Netanyahu is running “Jeffrey Epstein’s blackmail honey-trap operation”. When it comes to that sort of response from party leadership, not even Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour stooped so low.
That is apt, because many Green supporters are claiming a ‘familiar playbook’ is being used here. According to this theory, antisemitism was used to discredit Labour under Corbyn – similarly, accusations of Jew hate are now being used to “smear” the Greens (in this context, “smear” means ‘accurately report on what someone has written or shared’). The reality, of course, is the exact opposite – there is a significant streak of bigotry on the far-left; many people espousing it have simply moved from supporting Corbyn’s Labour to Polanski’s Greens.
The Zack Polanski of the 2010s would have been horrified by the sort of statements now made by Green Party candidates and members
If anything, the fight the mainstream Jewish community now faces is even greater than that of a decade ago – because the apparent new political haven for antisemites is now led by someone Jewish himself.
The Zack Polanski of the 2010s would have been horrified by the sort of statements made by Green Party candidates and members; we can only speculate as to why he seems completely unbothered today. The individuals who hold up Polanski’s Judaism as ‘proof’ the Greens cannot have an antisemitism problem are the same people who would scorn any suggestion that Reform UK could not possibly have an issue with anti-Muslim hate because its chair and London Mayoral candidate are Muslim.
The Greens will likely do well in next month’s local elections. It took four years before the hideous behaviour within Labour under Corbyn cut through to the British public. With a general election in 2029, a battered and bruised Jewish mainstream will now have to demonstrate the same thing in just three years – and in the aftermath of catastrophic destruction in Gaza war triggered by 7 October.
Time will tell if this is a challenge too far.
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