Green Party leader Polanski faces crisis over Zionism motion and party control

The Green Party leader stood in the predawn darkness of Camden Council offices, waiting for by-election results that would normally command the night's attention. Instead, cameras and microphones turned toward Zack Polanski with questions that had almost nothing to do with whether his party could win a seat in north London. The real story had been written days earlier, at the party's conference in Brighton, where activists voted to declare Zionism a form of racism—and where Polanski, the party's leader, had chosen not to vote at all.

Sagal Abdi-Wali, the new MP for Holborn and St Pancras, arrived in Britain as a child refugee from Somalia in the 1990s, grew up in Camden, became a councillor four years ago, took the council leadership in May, and now holds the seat once represented by Keir Starmer. Her story is remarkable. But it was not her story that consumed the press pack that morning. Holborn and St Pancras has been Labour territory for decades—the political home of a former prime minister and a former cabinet minister before that. A Labour win here meant relief in Downing Street, not celebration. For the Greens, finishing second represented their best-ever performance in a Westminster by-election, a result that would normally signal momentum. Polanski had taken over the party leadership just over a year ago, and the Greens had ridden a political wave through local elections in London in May. But none of that mattered anymore.

What mattered was the motion passed at the Brighton conference the previous weekend. The party's activists had voted to declare Zionism an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state" and to back the establishment of "a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine"—language that encompasses modern-day Israel. Polanski had not participated in the vote, saying he chose instead to campaign in the by-election. Since then, he had declined repeated requests for interviews as pressure mounted.

The response from outside the party was swift and severe. The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews issued criticism. Sister Green parties across Europe weighed in. But the blow that seemed to cut deepest came from within: Caroline Lucas, the former party leader and one of the most significant figures in the Green movement of her generation, told BBC Newsnight that Polanski had failed to show leadership on the issue. She stopped short of endorsing his continuation as party leader.

Polanski himself is Jewish and has been banned from Israel. When reporters asked him after the by-election result whether he could continue as leader, he said "of course I can carry on." But he did not explicitly reject the motion his party had passed. Instead, he spoke of "an ongoing genocide and the displacement of the Palestinian people," calling that "clearly racist." When asked if he believed in a two-state solution—an Israeli and Palestinian state coexisting peacefully—he said "I believe it is not our role to decide." He insisted his job was to "reassure people and make sure that we bring our party together" and that "no one will be excluded in the Green Party based on faith and religion."

Yet the numbers told a different story about who was joining the party. Membership had more than tripled in the past year, and internal critics said the influx included hard-left campaigners focused on Middle East politics rather than environmental concerns. One senior Green figure described the situation bluntly to the BBC: "He has created a monster he either can't or won't control." Many within the party were furious.

Polanski now faced the gravest crisis of his leadership. The by-election campaign was finished. The questions for him were just beginning. He confronted open insurrection from senior figures inside the party and criticism from organizations and figures far beyond it. The gap between what he was saying—that he wanted to hold the party together, that no one would be excluded—and what the party had voted to do, and what senior figures like Lucas were saying about his leadership, had become impossible to ignore. The morning's by-election result, which might have dominated the news cycle, had been entirely eclipsed by a crisis that showed no signs of resolution.