Zack Polanski has been accused of turning the Greens into “the receptacle for extremists and racists” who were kicked out of Labour over allegations of antisemitism.
The independent peer Ian Austin, who resigned from Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, said the Green party leader had allowed his party to become “infected” with antisemitism.
“I think the whole country should be very worried about this,” Lord Austin said. “When it comes to the Jewish community, so many people, even those who regard themselves as being on the left and supposedly anti-racist campaigners, are for some reason silent.”
The Greens have surged in the polls in recent months and are poised to win councils in this week’s local elections, including big London boroughs such as Hackney and Lambeth, but allegations of antisemitism have surfaced.
Last week, two Green party candidates in the local elections were arrested by over alleged antisemitic social media posts.
On Friday, Polanski apologised for sharing a social media post criticising the way police officers arrested the suspect in the Golders Green knife attack. The Green leader has also been criticised for asking whether there is a “perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety” among the Jewish community.
The writer David Baddiel, author of Jews Don’t Count, said: “I think the ‘perception of unsafety’ comment was significant. Some of Polanski’s supporters – not all – hear the word antisemitism, or even news of an attack on Jews, and reflexively reach for other words, like ‘weaponisation’ and ‘scam’ and ‘false flag’.”
He added: “Within the simplistic binary teamification of politics that social media has fostered, caring about this particular type of race hatred – and pushing back against it – is seen, absurdly, as the preserve of #TeamRight. Which means that some on #TeamLeft can’t ever accept the reality of it. And I think the perception comment very subtly – and not usefully – played into that.”
Under Polanski, membership of the Greens has grown from about 60,000 to 226,000. Last year, he told The Observer that he would be happy to see “anyone [join] who aligns with the values of the party”.
On Saturday, the Green party complained to the editor of the Times about a cartoon showing Polanski with a hooked nose. “Zack is the only Jewish leader of a British political party and he faces daily antisemitism,” a spokesperson said. “Two people have been arrested in the last six weeks for antisemitic actions towards him. The issue of Jewish safety is deeply personal to him.”
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Photograph by Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images