Category: Zack Polanski
Zionism is racism, says Green leader Zack Polanski
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Zack Polanski, UK Green Party leader. [Photo/AA] Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said Zionism is a form of racism and declared himself an anti-Zionist, drawing boos and heckling at a Jewish community election hustings in London.
Asked whether Zionism was racist, Polanski said: “If you’re defining Zionism as a displacement genocide, which is how, in practice, Zionism has become, then that is racism.” His answer followed a qualification that people understood the term differently, Jewish News reported.
Speaking in Holborn and St Pancras on Thursday, Polanski acknowledged that his declaration of anti-Zionism would be difficult for some audience members to hear.
When challenged about where Jewish people should go, he argued that Israel’s exercise of self-determination relied on the displacement and genocide of Palestinians. The response prompted further boos.
Jewish News described his explicit identification as an anti-Zionist as a shift from his previous non-Zionist label.
The hustings were organised by pro-Israel lobby group Board of Deputies of British Jews and the London Jewish Forum ahead of the constituency’s 8 October by-election.
READ: Green Party leader accuses UK Chief Rabbi of promoting Israel’s political agenda
Polanski, who is Jewish, also argued that criticism of Israel must be distinguished from anti-Semitism. “I think we need to separate antisemitism from criticism of the Israeli state, and I think far too often those things become conflated”, Polanski said.
Commenting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Polanski said: “Many genocide scholars around the world recognise it as a genocide, and calling it that is not antisemitic. And I think as a Jewish community we need to come together to recognise that, when we call that antisemitic, we are making ourselves as Jewish people less safe.”
His comments echo a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly more than five decades ago.
On 10 November 1975, the assembly passed Resolution 3379, determining that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”. The resolution was adopted by 72 votes to 35, with 32 abstentions.
The General Assembly revoked that determination on 16 December 1991 through Resolution 46/86.
Polanski’s remarks also come amid a debate within his own party. Green members are expected to discuss a motion declaring Zionism racist at their forthcoming conference.
READ: Legal victory for scholar denied university post after calling Gaza a ‘textbook case of genocide’
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister. 
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide. Shell’s pollution responsible for nearly quarter of global heatwaves
Leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski said: ‘Shell has spent decades making billions from fossil fuels while ordinary people around the world pay the price’PM urged to make fossil fuel giants pay compensation for extreme weather
ANDY BURNHAM faced fresh calls today to make oil giants pay communities compensation for extreme weather as new research suggests Shell’s pollution is responsible for nearly a quarter of global heatwaves.
Analysis by campaigners suing the oil and gas giant at the High Court said that the firm’s pollution has made 24 per cent of the 213 global heatwaves reported between 2000 and 2023 at least 10,000 times more likely.
The Odette case campaign’s findings sparked calls by Green Party leader Zack Polanski, unions and fuel poverty campaigners for the Prime Minister to take a hard line on “climate vandalism” ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool.
This summer’s extreme heat caused thousands of deaths in Britain and an estimated more than £4 billion damage to the economy.
Shell, meanwhile, reported profits of over £12bn in the first six months of this year, a 70 per cent year-on-year increase, as the US-Israel war on Iran sent global oil prices soaring.
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/shell-oil-pollution-responsible-global-heatwaves-andy-burnham
Greenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images) 
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards 
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet. Andy Burnham: UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050
Burnham: ‘I want Britain to believe in itself again.’ Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA [Guardian] Exclusive: PM, who is facing pressure over whether to approve North Sea oil and gasfields, makes strongest comments yet on issue
The UK must fully commit to reaching net zero by 2050, Andy Burnham has argued in his strongest comments yet on the issue, saying it is no longer possible for Britons to believe they are not already affected by a changing climate.
Writing for the Guardian about new plans for a mass of community-led local green energy projects, the prime minister said the UK must “believe in itself”, and set out his determination to reach net zero targets, which have been rejected by the Conservatives and Reform UK.
The tone marks a contrast to the summer, when Burnham faced criticism for a seemingly muted response to the heatwaves, droughts and wildfires that affected the UK, with his main initiative being a ban on portable barbecues.
“I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach net zero by 2050,” Burnham said. “I want Britain to believe in itself again.”
Saying he wanted to connect local communities to green power projects – to reach net zero targets and make energy more affordable – Burnham said: “I am acutely aware that our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record.”
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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/17/andy-burnham-uk-must-fully-commit-to-reaching-net-zero-by-2050
Comment by dizzy: While this is very encouraging, it is unexpected and suggests a real change in direction. Burnham’s article seems far more restrained than the Guardian’s review leads us to believe, funding of £30m is nothing and it seems devolved rather than owned by his government. There’s a saying in UK and possibly elsewhere: The proof is in the pudding. It can be interpreted to mean wait and see what comes later.
[18/9/26 I think that this is probably BS. We’ve seen Burnham & Co do it before with this
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister. where an announcement is made, it’s a delaying tactic and what happens months later falls hugely short of what we were led to believe.
Specifically, it may well be BS to mislead and misdirect for the forthcoming Holborn and St. Pancras by-election where the Green Party’s Zack Polanski is a candidate, to give the impression that he cares about the climate and may not wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank, only then to wave through Jackdaw and Rosebank. Burnham’s statement is big on talk, commitments even but the actuality is minimal.]
Donald Trump urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood. Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski said: ‘Shell has spent decades making billions from fossil fuels while ordinary people around the world pay the price’
