Green Party Leader Zack Polanski Calls Zionism Racist “in Practical Application”, Says No State Has a Right to Exist

Polanski refuses to overturn party’s controversial conference motion, insists he has no regrets despite criticism from Jewish members

London, October 18, 2026: Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has said that Zionism in its current form is racist, that no state has an inherent right to exist, and that the party’s recent motion on the issue was not controversial.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Polanski gave an unapologetic defence of the position two weeks after the party’s conference approved a motion equating Zionism with racism. He confirmed he would not seek to overturn the new policy. “I don’t think this is actually controversial,” he said.

Polanski, who did not attend the conference vote and has faced accusations of a lack of leadership as a result, said he agreed with the broad thrust of the motion, though he considered a debate over terminology unhelpful. Pointing to the scale of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, he argued that the killing of people because of their identity reflected a racist ideology, and said Zionism was racist in the way it had been applied in practice. He added that he supported the right of peoples to self-determination, but not at the expense of another group, and called for equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians.

Asked whether Israel had a right to exist, Polanski, who is Jewish, said that under international law no state holds such a right, while people do. He also dismissed the prospect of a two-state solution as unrealistic, citing Israel’s opposition to it.

The Green leader rejected suggestions that he regretted his handling of the controversy, despite criticism from prominent Jewish members of the party, including Vivien Lichtenstein, head of the Jewish Greens, who has said she may leave the party over the vote. Polanski said he continued to respect Lichtenstein, with whom he helped found the group, and claimed that a majority of Jewish Greens surveyed had supported the motion.

The motion has drawn wider political repercussions. Labour councils have been instructed to end cooperation agreements with Green councillors who do not condemn the policy, while some Green MPs have called for a review of the party’s policy-making procedures, noting that fewer than one per cent of members took part in the vote.

The interview follows what observers describe as the most difficult period of Polanski’s leadership since he took over in September last year, including the fallout from the conference vote and the party’s defeat in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. His strategy of moving the party leftward on economic issues and foregrounding Palestine and Gaza had earlier lifted the Greens from around 10 per cent to 18 per cent in opinion polls, but support has since fallen amid questions over his tax affairs, a public dispute with police following the Golders Green attack, and the row over Zionism.

Polanski said he was confident voters would return to the Greens as they saw more of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government, which he accused of changing its rhetoric but not its actions.