A relative of Zack Polanski has revealed they would consider making aliyah if the Green Party leader ever got into government.
The family member – who asked to remain anonymous – warned that his party’s “obsessive” demonisation of Israel was “dangerous” for British Jews amid the wave of attacks on the community.
Pointing to Polanski’s incendiary rhetoric on the Jewish state, they said he had ridden a wave of “Jew-hatred” to get to the top of politics.
“That is what’s propelled him, in my opinion. This genocide narrative has given him the top spot.”
The relative said they believed the former actor had taken on a persona to win votes and approval from an extremist political constituency.
“It’s incredibly dangerous. If your rhetoric’s potent enough and enough people are following you, and you’re swaying people, bringing people into this narrative... we’re even more of an endangered species.
“If people are politically charged enough, they could absolutely turn to violence, or, even worse, turn a blind eye... someone else does it, they’ll say, ‘Well, you deserve it because you support Israel.’”
Asked if they would consider moving to Israel if the Greens formed part of a government, the family member said: “Yes. I have already thought about it and asked questions from my accountant about what to do if I decide to. The problem is that we love England, but the fabric of the country has changed.”
The relative also revealed that a number of other family members were considering making a direct appeal to Polanski to change course if he did not.
“He needs to start, or somebody needs to tell him to stop,” the family member said.
Referring to such an intervention, they added: “I think it’s only a matter of time. If synagogues are getting attacked, Jews are getting beaten up on the street, there’s only so much we can take.
“There is a hope that this will change, but my fear when I speak to the most Jewish people I know is that it won’t… How real does it need to get before he understands this isn’t a game?”
Polanski’s acting background, the relative said, was helping the 43-year-old member of the London Assembly to climb the opinion polls.
“What you get, obviously, is a charismatic, a young, good speaker, ex-actor. And as we know, actors, especially in American politics, can make for quite potent politicians, powerful orators.”
But the relative was unsure whether Polanski genuinely believed what he was saying or himself playing a part, but a part which he was thoroughly enjoying.
“I think that he’s adopting a certain character. And then he’s, I think he’s told himself so, and he’s been surrounded by people who, quite frankly, in my opinion, if he says the right thing, they applaud it. And that gives him the impetus to say more of that.”
They also noted how Polanski had evolved from a Lib Dem, to anti-Corbyn Green to left-wing populist in the space of just over a decade.
“The phrase I use is go with ‘goes with the wind’… flavour of the month. On a complete side note, I think they’ll turn on him at some point, he’s being used and is a bit of a buffoon,” the relative said.
What particularly concerned them was the antisemitic and extremely anti-Israel comments by some Green Party officials and candidates, which they say was hurting Britain’s Jewish community.
Along with other family relatives, the individual who spoke to the JC was outraged by Polanski’s support for the party’s “Zionism is racism” motion.
“I literally went, ‘he’s gone meshugana’ … I mean, it’s embarrassing. It’s infuriating. It’s dangerous. His views of Zionism and racism are just a) pathetic, b) grounded in complete, warped reality and a twisted narrative.
“What is Zionism? I mean, I think, I think the real problem is the PR is tricky enough. So, him peddling this narrative that people want to hear, does he realise the repercussions, because that, to me, if you look at history, that’s, that’s where this gets dangerous.
“He seems, basically, to have completely unlinked himself from his history, his roots, the reality for Jews around the world. It’s cowardly, because he’s jumped ship into that camp it’s like, ‘I’m not I’m with them. I’m Jewish, but I’m not with them’. What a coward.”
Mothin Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, delivers his speech on the second day of the Green Party Conference on October 04, 2025 in Bournemouth (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)Getty Images
Polanski’s relative said that they thought the Green Party leader was putting out “a load of bullshit” about Israel, taking isolated incidents of wrongdoing, both real and imagined, by Israeli forces to demonise the entire country and further division within the Jewish community.
“It’s dangerous for Jews. I’m incredibly angry about it.” He said he wished that Polanski confronted the reality of who his supporters really were.
They went on: “In terms of him being elected it would be a complete and utter disaster. It’s not hyperbolic. I’m actually usually a glass-half-full kind of person and would normally say, ‘Well, it’s not that bad, because if you look at the statistics, and he’s a buffoon, and most people think he’s stupid’, but I am not buying that narrative at the moment.
“Maybe it’s an evolutionary thing as a Jew, an instinct, which is that this is dangerous. It’s getting out of hand.”
Born David Paulden, the Green Party leader changed his name by deed poll to Zack Polanski.
He told the Green Party’s annual conference last year that his family originally adopted new names “to sound more English” but that he “changed it back” because “we all know real pride comes when you no longer hide who you are”.
However, the relative claimed that there is some dispute about whether the original surname was, in fact, Polanski.
“One of my relatives who is not with us any longer was the only one in the family that went to Oxford. Really interesting, dynamic man. He did some research and thinks [the family’s surname] was Pelusskin. So, I’m laughing my head off because Zack’s changed his name by deed poll to the wrong name.”
They claimed that although they did not recall him having any notable antizionist views when he was younger – Polanski himself described growing up in a Zionist household in Manchester – but said that he seemed to enjoy a good argument.
“He was always very contrary when he was younger and I think he still gets a kick out of making bold, alarming statements and seeing the reaction,” they said.
Although the relative had not studied Green policies in great detail, as well as the “Zionism is racism” stance they pointed to other “ridiculous” ones such as the drugs legalisation or setting the motorway speed limit at 55 miles per hour.
“I mean, what the actual…” they said, adding: “What’s interesting to me is I think he knows what he’s doing. Unless he is not intellectual – which he is – and doesn’t understand history then there’s something fake going on here. Because you can’t erase archaeology. And actual artifacts under the Wailing Wall, but they seem OK with doing that.”
To them, the venom exhibited by Green Party towards Israel had a dark parallel: “I think it’s become an obsession with these people, and I’m sorry, but the only thing it’s I can relate it to is it’s akin to Nazism in the sense of vitriol.
“They get riled very, very quickly when you disagree with this ‘genocide’ narrative and the few who do engage then erase and subvert Jewish history of connection to the land of Israel and accuse us of being ‘colonisers’.”
On October 7, the Green Party’s now deputy leader Mothin Ali defended the right of “indigenous people to fight back”. Also on the day of the attack, he wrote on X: “White supremacist European settler colonialism must end”, he since apologised for his words.
For Polanski to have utilised his Jewishness in order to differentiate himself from the mainstream of the Jewish community – and Israel – drew particular ire: “He’s made that his thing. That’s his shtick. It’s working very well for him. It’s what got him the top job.”
The position the Jewish community finds itself in in 2026 – with several synagogues attacked, communal institutions firebombed and less than a year after the Islamist terror attack in Polanski’s home city of Manchester – prompted his relative to voice their concern.
“Usually we’re pretty resilient [but] he [Polanski] is obviously not helping take away the extremism, the radicalism, these warped narratives. I think the threat is enough now that I feel the need to stick my neck out.”
Polanski told the JC: “My criticism of the actions of the Israeli government is always based in fact, evidence, and expert analysis. It’s deeply offensive to be attacked anonymously in the press as a result of my stance on the actions of the Israeli government. Of course, antisemitism is completely unacceptable, but I also reject the unfair smears made against hundreds of thousands of hardworking Green Party members who give their time day in, day out to campaign to improve people’s lives.”
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