Green Party leadership hopeful Zack Polanski has claimed he is the victim of “vicious” criticism from “so-called mainstream Jewish communities” because of his newly acquired anti-Zionist views.
The 42 year-old, who last week announced his campaign to become the next leader of the party said it had been on a “really hard journey” to reject the “very Zionist” views he was brought up with in his family home in Salford, Greater Manchester.
But reflecting on this difficult journey, he told the Guardian:”I always caveat this with nothing is as traumatic as it is to live in Palestine.”
Speaking to interviewer Zoe Williams, Polanski, currently deputy leader of the Greens revealed he he “grew up in a very Zionist household, raised to really believe that Israel was the centre of everything and must be defended at all costs. ”
He added:” And that’s very different to my politics now, so that’s been a really hard journey, but I always caveat this with nothing is as traumatic as it is to live in Palestine.”
Green councillor Hau-Yu Tam (centre) pictured alongside Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski (left). Photo Credit: London Green Party
Polanski then discussed his upbringing, and his political journey from being a member of the Liberal Democrats, before joining the Greens.
He said:” “Of all the criticism I’ve received in my career as a politician the most vicious has come from so-called mainstream Jewish communities.
“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, and that’s seen as the ultimate betrayal.”
He also said he believes he is now the person who” can lead the party for the country, and be accountable to the membership.”
Polanski added:” I’ve reflected on this because the Green party has never had a solo male leader before, albeit a gay and Jewish one.”
During the interview, journalist Williams suggested that after launching his leadership bid last week, Polanski faced online smears from “an odd coalition of pro-Russian, anti-trans and pro-Zionist accounts” who made reference to an article that appeared in The Sun newspaper 12 years ago.
Polanski was a hypnotherapist at the time, and offered breast enlargement treatment in a published article in the tabloid.
Last week Polanski attempted to play down antisemitism in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn as he promoted his campaign launch with a series of interviews aimed at securing far-left support.
Polanski had previously raised concerns about the issue himself, but now said “it was not helpful for me to assume that the Labour Party was rife with antisemitism when we now know that blatantly was not true”.
He had also previously argued for the Greens to accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and praised David Badiel’s Jews Don’t Count book. In 2020 he said:”I’ve been keen for a long time for the Green Party to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
“I’m thankful that I recognise my experiences with my fellow Greens is that I feel we don’t have the same scale of issues with antisemitism in the Green Party as with other parties do.
“It is nevertheless still important for us to send a clear message to Jewish communities both in the party and in the wider world that we stand in solidarity with them.”
But more recently he has declared himself to be an anti-Zionist and has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
He described the Board of Deputies as being a representative of the “Israeli government.”
Polanski launched a surprise campaign to replace Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay as Green co-leaders last Monday.
The notorious anti-Zionist academic David Miller, sacked from his post at Bristol University, posted on X:”Zack Polanski is a Jewish Zionist who is only one amongst a wave of entryists in the senior ranks of British political parties.”
