An extraordinary meeting of the council, called to discuss a motion to cut all ties with ‘Israel’s genocide’, led to an ‘inflamed’ debate
October 29, 2025 15:13
The wardens of an East London synagogue have called on Green Party leader Zack Polanski to suspend two local councillors who "rallied against Israel" in an “inflamed” meeting on Thursday.
The extraordinary Hackney Council meeting was called after a joint motion, advanced by the Greens and the Socialist Party, to cut the borough’s ties with what they called a "genocidal" Israel.
At the meeting, Green Councillor Zoë Garbett, who seconded the motion, said: "I want to be really clear what we are talking about today - a genocide, apartheid, a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people."
She went on to say that the destruction of residential parts of Gaza during the war was "by design" and claimed that the "Israeli military strategy is known to involve large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure".
Labour Councillor Michael Desmond countered the motion to divest, citing the fact that it was proposed shortly after Manchester's Heaton Park Synagogue attack.
Green Councillor Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, backing the motion, then launched what Desmond later called an "inflamed" speech about the need to cut ties with Israel, shouting across the chamber that "there are only two sides - pro-genocide and anti-genocide" and swearing several times.
The fiery scenes prompted Desmond, along with Hackney and East London Synagogue wardens Stephen Brook and Ronnie Barden, to write to Green leader Zack Polanski, calling on him to take disciplinary action against Garbett and Binnie-Lubbock.
"Regrettably, the two Green councillors who spoke made inflammatory and aggressive attacks on Israel, rather than discussing the catastrophic Gaza war and its repercussions in a rational manner.
"In the febrile atmosphere, with some members of the public gallery egging them on, Councillor Binnie-Lubbock became so inflamed, he began railing against Israel, swearing almost uncontrollably, shouting ‘f***ing’ twice.
"His colleague, Councillor Garbett, who had also made a venomous speech, applauded and gave him a congratulatory pat after his inappropriate ranting."
They went on to say: "The atmosphere was akin to being at an East End meeting of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts in the 1930’s, wholly inappropriate for a Hackney Council meeting.
"These aggressive expressions of Hate not Hope [a play on anti-racist group Hope not Hate], were not only obscene, but they were also utterly divisive and insulting to the whole community, not just the Jewish community."
The trio called on Polanski to take action, writing: "As leader of the Green Party, we suggest you show some leadership, taking disciplinary action against these two councillors, preferably suspending them.
"Such disgraceful behaviour should play no part in any democratic political party."
The motion was carried, albeit after being amended by Labour to limit divestment to pension funds from companies tied to the conflict, write to the UK Government and to not engage in any new town twinnings with Israel.
Responding to the JC’s article on X, Polanski wrote: “My comment? I'm proud of Green councillors who are doing everything they can to bring attention to stopping the genocide.”
The JC has contacted Garbett and Binnie-Lubbock for comment.
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