Zack Polanski labels Green Party ‘Zionism is racism’ motion an ‘unhelpful distraction’

Zack Polanski has labelled the hugely controversial “Zionism Is Racism” motion set to be debated at next month’s Green Party conference as “unhelpful” and a “distraction.”

The Green Party leader also called for it to be amended as he reflected on how he had “de-Zionized” himself.

In a lengthy interview for broadcaster Mehdi Hasan’s new Zeteo subscriber-only platform, Polanski also appeared to imply that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians raised renewed concerns around the Holocaust.

Discussing his move away from his background as a young Jewish Zionist into someone who is now deeply critical of the actions of the Jewish state, he said: “When you do know the truth, when you have that experience and open your eyes to it… I feel, as a Jewish person, a responsibility to say, when I grew up in my teenage years, understanding about the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish race, ‘never again’ means never again.

“Not just for one group of people, but for every single group of people.”

Interviewed by Hasan and former ITV journalist and Zeteo political editor Shehab Khan, the Green leader was asked about the “Zionism is racism” motion pushed by hardline pro-Palestine members of his party, and how he planned to vote on it.

Polanski was also asked by Khan at the same time if he was “comfortable” with a motion that stated, “Palestinians have a right to resistance.”

He responded: “Well, the first thing is, Palestinians definitely have a right to resistance. Everyone has a right to resistance within international human rights.”

Then, dealing with the motion on Zionism, Polanski said that while he was “proud to lead a party that is having these conversations,” it was “also true that there are conversations the party has that I think are less helpful at the moment.”

He continued: “Now the problem with the label Zionism, as with any label, is it means different things to different people.”

“Now I think it’s pretty clear that if what you’re talking about is Zionism, is what this Israeli government is carrying out in the name of Zionism, which is the genocide and displacement of Palestinian people, then of course that’s quite obviously racist. It’s a genocide.

“I don’t think it’s a big jump to say it’s racist. There are two problems I have with the motion, and if they’re amended, then I think it will make a better motion.”

He added:”It is also true that there’s conversations the party has that I think are less helpful at the moment, and I’ll explain explicitly why.

“I think what I want to focus on as party leader, and indeed in Holborn and St Pancras, is ending the genocide.

“And for me, that is very concrete steps, like ending arms sales to Israel, not just kind of having wavy language about ending, you know, boycott, divestment, sanctions with illegal settlements.”

The ‘ Zionism is racism’ motion  recently topped a member vote of policy proposals, placing it at the forefront of the party’s autumn conference agenda, which begins on October 2.

If passed the Green Party would become the first mainstream UK political party to formally declare itself an anti-Zionist party, dictating that Zionism be treated “as any other form of racism”. 

The Holborn and St Pancras by-election candidate said one amendment he wanted to see included “is around safeguarding Jewish people.”

Polanski then raised the fact that some Jewish Green Party members “stand against the occupation, stand against the apartheid, and stand against the genocide” but “happens to be a member of a synagogue that calls itself a Zionist synagogue.”

He continued: “They should not be treated any differently within the Green Party. This should not be about should definitely not be about finding Jewish people and creating a barrier or a bar of what they have to jump through in order to be a member of the Green Party.”

He also called for a second amendment over the current call for “a single Palestinian state.”

“I think there’s something quite imperial about this for the British government, or indeed the Green Party of England and Wales, to decide what the future settlement of Palestine and Israel looks like,” he said. “I think my job as leader of the Green Party, the Green Party’s job, is to demand justice and equality both for Palestinians and Israelis.”

“I think there’s something impractical about a political party deciding to label what Zionism is or what exactly needs to happen as a result,” added Polanski.

“What I want to see is the practical work towards making sure that we’re standing up for Palestinians, that we’re making sure we never conflate antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and we stop the British not complicity, but active participation in the Israeli genocide.”

When it was suggested he was not likely to vote for the motion, Polanski said: “I’m not decided.

“But what I want to see is those two amendments, because I think without those amendments, then the motion I think is not going to help. I think ultimately what it does is create a distraction and a conversation where both the party and pro-Palestinian activists and anyone who cares about peace and justice can be attacked.”

Earlier in the interview, Polanski discussed his upbringing in a “very Zionist” household in Manchester, before Hasan said: “How did you, for want of a better word, ‘de-Zionize yourself?'”

Polanski recalled his days as a member of the Jewish youth movement Habonim Dror, which he described as both Zionist and socialist in outlook, and admitted there were “beautiful” times, but added that when it came to conversations on Israel there was little diversity of opinion.

He added that later, “In my early 20s, I wasn’t particularly political,” and explained that if someone criticised Israel, “there’d be something quite inherent in me that would feel defensive about it, because you’ve grown up with this idea that that’s the safe space.”

Polanski added: “As a Jewish person, there are generations, an intergenerational history of persecution, of fleeing pogroms, of fleeing Nazis.

“So I think there’s something quite intrinsic in the Jewish story about recognising what it means to be persecuted and what it means to want a safe space.”

But he argued: “The story you’re not told, though, is that safe space involved the displacement and now the ongoing genocide of an entire Palestinian population, and so that’s a story I was never told.”

Polanski added:”Cut to about 2017, 2018, a group called Breaking the Silence approached me.

“This is a group of ex-IDF soldiers who are speaking out against what they were doing on behalf of the Israeli government, and as I sat there and they talked to me, I could feel my defensiveness as they were speaking.

“But I also had an experience of knowing all of this was true, knowing all of this made sense, and actually, for a long time, being involved in politics for a few years, this was the conversation I’d never had.”

Polanski also said it was a “legitimate response” for a Jewish person to refuse to discuss Israel, but he then added: “But also, when you do know the truth, when you have that experience and open your eyes to it, I feel as a Jewish person a responsibility to say, when I grew up in my teenage years, understanding about the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish race, never again means never again. Not just for one group of people, but for every single group of people.”

Later in the interview, Polanski was asked about an article in the Daily Mail in which unnamed relatives said they had disowned him over his views on Israel as Green Party leader.

“I thought I can’t see any of my close family members actually saying those things,” said Polanski.