Green Party Leader Polanski Clings to Power Amid Antisemitism Scandal and Party Turmoil
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Zack Polanski refuses to step down as Green Party leader after a humiliating by-election defeat and widespread outrage over his mishandling of an extremist motion branding Zionism as racism, as prominent party members and national leaders warn of deepening antisemitism within the Greens.
The Green Party’s embattled leader, Zack Polanski, told BBC Breakfast he will "absolutely" remain in his post, defiantly ignoring calls for accountability after the party’s disappointing loss in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali secured a commanding 45% of the vote, while the Greens lagged behind at 33%, despite a modest increase from the general election—a result that exposes the party’s limited appeal.
Polanski’s stubbornness comes amid escalating internal dissent. Vivien Lichtenstein, head of the party’s Jewish Greens, demanded his resignation on Times Radio, blasting his cowardly refusal to address a dangerous conference motion that outrageously labeled Zionism—a core belief for many Jews—as racism. Lichtenstein even threatened to quit the party, highlighting the deep divisions and growing alienation of Jewish members.
Former leaders Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley joined the chorus of criticism, accusing Polanski of failing to provide the strong leadership needed to reject such radicalism, and urged him to apologize, though they stopped short of demanding his immediate ouster. Adrian Ramsay, a former co-leader, said he is working to overturn the motion and pointed to Polanski’s weak leadership as a contributing factor to the party’s crisis.
The controversial motion, forced through by hard-left activists, slanders Zionism as supporting an "ethnonationalist Jewish state" and calls for the abolition of Israel in favor of a so-called single democratic Palestinian state across historic Palestine—a position that aligns with extremist anti-Israel rhetoric. Polanski tried to excuse his absence from the vote by claiming he was campaigning, and distanced himself from the motion, but still echoed anti-Israel talking points about Palestinian displacement and so-called racist ideology, while paying lip service to equal rights.
Other Green MPs, such as Ellie Chowns, attempted damage control by affirming Israel’s right to exist while criticizing the current Israeli government. Outside the party, Labour chair Bridget Phillipson warned that the Greens now face a "serious problem" with antisemitism, and Prime Minister Andy Burnham condemned the motion as "completely wrong" and demanded its reversal, underscoring the severity of the Greens’ self-inflicted crisis.