‘We still welcome Zionists’ say Jewish Greens despite outrage over deputy leader’s October 7 remarks

“This is an exciting moment for the Green Party and the Jewish community as a whole,” the group said in a statement.

The statement continued by invoking the expulsion of Jews from medieval England, noting: "We wonder, as Jewish Greens, how our ancestors, hounded from these shores seven centuries ago, would react to seeing a proud Jew elected leader of a major UK political party. In a difficult time for British Jewish communities, this is a reminder of how far we have come and a foretaste of a better tomorrow."

Vivien Lichtenstein, founder of the Jewish Greens, echoed this sentiment in an interview with the JC, but said the group did not take a formal position on the leadership election itself.

Polanski – who said he is “proud to be Jewish” but is “certainly not a Zionist” – has made a number of contentious comments about Israel in recent years.

He has previously criticised the Board of Deputies, calling it “the Board of Deputies for the Israeli Government” and has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

Jewish Labour Movement chair Lord Katz told the JC this week that Polanski’s comments Zionism were out of step with the overwhelming majority of British Jews. “Whether religious or not, most Jews here believe in the right for a Jewish state to exist,” he said.

But when asked whether the Green Party was a welcoming space for Zionists, despite the stance of its new leader, Lichtenstein responded with a firm “yes”.

The campaigner, who founded the Jewish liberation group in 2018, said Green Party foreign policy was “just a small part” of its platform

“There are definitely going to be some people who aren’t happy with the Green Party’s position on Israel, and some who are very happy,” she said.

“Jewish Greens,” she added, “does not offer a single position on topics such as Israel-Palestine.”

“It’s paramount that Jewish Greens is a space for all, regardless of the deeply held divisions in society and our community on these issues.”

However, Polanski's newly elected co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali, has raised concerns within parts of the community.

On social media on October 7, 2023, the Leeds councillor praised the end of “white supremacist European settler colonialism” and defended the right of “indigenous people to fight back.”

When elected to Leeds City Council last year, he dedicated his win to “the people of Gaza” and shouted “allahu akbar”.

Labour’s Dame Louise Ellman, who is Jewish, told the JC that Ali’s election was “deeply disturbing”.

While Lichtenstein stated that she "did not agree" with Ali's comments on October 7, she expressed confidence in the Green Party’s internal complaint system, pointing to instances where candidates were deselected over anti-Jewish remarks in the last general election.

“He won’t say anything that could be interpreted as antisemitic... because all of those conversations have been had,” Lichtenstein said, referring to the Green Party antisemitism training.

In 2021, the Green Party adopted two separate definitions of antisemitism: the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition and the Jerusalem Declaration, in a move that was criticised as "contradictory" by some observers.

Lichtenstein, however, expressed confidence in the party’s approach and spoke positively about Ali, whom she has met face-to-face.

“I think it's terrific,” she said. “We have a very diverse executive... we've got a Jewish leader, a Muslim deputy leader, and, as somebody [posted] on Twitter, a middle-class white deputy leader.”

The Jewish Green group said: “Our leadership team represents the best of diverse and progressive modern Britain – a hopeful vision of what Britain could be”.