This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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.
- 5 Netanyahu claims at UN that clash with documented findings
- US university ends contract for sending human cadavers to train Israeli military personnel
- Army halts arrests of ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews draft dodgers: Israeli newspaper
- Yemeni government forces seize strategic mountain range in Lahj after clashes with Houthis
- UN chief calls for end to Sudan war, voices regret that Burhan was denied US visa
- Maldives vice president tells UN Israel’s genocide in Gaza ‘must end’
- Israeli opposition party leader says state’s global standing at all-time low, warns of economic collapse
- Turkiye rejects East-West divide, says Mecca defense pact not aimed at Iran or Israel: President
- China helping Iran would be ‘totally unacceptable,’ Trump told Xi during visit: US ambasador
- Zionism is racism, says Green leader Zack Polanski
- 71,000 children displaced in Yemen in 3 weeks amid escalating conflict: UNICEF
- Egypt urges resumption of US-Iran talks, regional de-escalation
- Saudi grand mufti urges front-line troops to unite against Houthis
- Israeli army prepares for new phase of fighting in southern Lebanon: Report
- Iran just gave Washington a deadline. Watch Islamabad, not the White House
- Report: UK’s ‘double lock’ on arms to Israel suspends nothing
- Protesters outside UN’s New York headquarters demand Netanyahu face war crimes charges
- Rising from the ashes: Post-Assad Syria is slowly stirring
- Abbas at UN: ‘Do not allow Palestinian homes to be burned while residents sleep’
- Delegates walk out as Netanyahu defends Israel’s regional wars in UN address
- Netherlands bans trade in products from Israeli settlements
- Barghouti proposes Fatah reunification ahead of Palestinian elections
- Ankara: Netanyahu’s claims against Turkey, Erdogan are desperate attempts to cover up Gaza war
- Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan discuss activating Mecca agreement against Houthi attacks
- School deaths and narco killings: The UN and US crimes in international law
- More than 1,000 Palestinian figures call for an elected National Council and diaspora representation
- Al-Ansari: Netanyahu’s accusations against Qatar seek to divert attention from Israel’s violations in Palestine
- Hamas slams Netanyahu’s UN speech: He should be in prison to face trial for crimes
- Macron says France to deploy forces to protect Saudi oil export port
- Israeli drone blast kills two soldiers in Gaza, wounds others
- Trump’s new Middle East has one missing piece: Palestine
- Egypt urges ‘sustained’ humanitarian access to Gaza, start of early recovery
- US, Iran should return to dialogue to end war, Xi tells Trump at White House
- UAE suspends flights by Iranian air carriers until further notice
- Arab lawmaker criticizes exclusion of Arab lists from Israeli election
- Israel uproots 400 olive trees in occupied West Bank as harvest season approaches
- Gaza and the dystopian future of AI-powered war | Palestine This Week
- With Netanyahu ostracized, his US visit will be very short, with Trump unwilling to meet him: Israeli analysts
- Iraq has important role in strengthening collective Arab security: Egyptian president
- 28% of Israeli police officers resigned since Ben-Gvir took office: Report
- More than 308,000 displaced from Sudan’s Kordofan since October 2025: UN migration agency
- Netanyahu’s plane flies through Greek, Italian, French airspace en route to US despite ICC warrant
- Israeli election committee rejects bid to bar extremist Ben-Gvir’s party from Knesset elections
- Government, opposition fear our voice as alternative to racist rhetoric: Israeli lawmaker
- Gaza economy has entered world’s ‘most severe crisis on record’: UN report
- Saudi-led coalition for Yemen says it intercepted 6 ballistic missiles launched by Houthis
- Hamas says ready to implement Gaza roadmap, accuses Israel of blocking ceasefire deal
- Iran cancels all flights to United Arab Emirates
- Iran says possible new war with US could expand to Indian Ocean
- Israeli army detains more than 150 Palestinians in West Bank raids
