Zack Polanski has written that Palestinians were “slaughtered en masse” in an op-ed for the Guardian.
In an article reflecting on “a tough week for the Greens” following the Holborn and St Pancras by-election defeat and his party’s adoption of a policy widely considered to be antisemitic, the leader once again referred to the fact he is Jewish and that he “grew up in a Zionist household”.
In an apparent reference to the build-up to the foundation of Israel in 1948 and the War of Independence, he wrote: “The story I was told about Israel was one of destiny and safety: a land without a people for a people without a land.
“But since then I have learnt about the people who did live on that land – and what has happened to them. The Palestinians driven from their homes; slaughtered en masse; and those who remain, living under an apartheid system that denies them fundamental rights, including that of self-determination.”
His comments came a week after the Greens passed a motion declaring “Zionism is Racism” in a vote not attended by Polanski.
He went on write: “It has been difficult knowing how to approach this imperfect motion, because its substance chimes with my understanding of Zionism as the ideology that underpins the displacement and genocide of Palestinians.
“This is something I share with many other Jewish people, including Stephen Kapos, the Holocaust survivor who was one of those supporting the motion.
“At the same time, Zionism is not easily defined, and I know for many Jewish people it is bound up with identity, safety and belonging. In my view it’s not the job of a political party to tell people what to believe – and a narrow focus on definitions is neither desirable nor strategic.”
Polanski has since said did not vote for the motion because it was “unamended”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Friday to presenter Charlie Stayt, he said that the “substantial part of the motion”, that “the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people is clearly underpinned by a racist ideology” was “obvious”.
He went on to say: “I think there are lots of people in this country who recognise the context that 75,000 Palestinians have been murdered, when there has been 1,500 Palestinians murdered since the so-called ceasefire. There are more child amputees than any time in modern history.
“I think people are disgusted and appalled by the genocide in Gaza, and the Green Party are absolutely unified for an end to a two-way arms embargo on Israel, an end of sharing intelligence and indeed boycott divestment and sanctions. We need to end the genocide.”
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