UK Green Party Leader Zack Polanski Suffers Election Defeat After Anti-Israel Vote
Polanski lost by 4,001 votes after a Green Party resolution on Zionism drew criticism and helped Labour's Sagal Abdi-Wali win the seat.
- Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali defeated Green Party Leader Zack Polanski in Thursday's Holborn and St. Pancras by-election, winning 45% of the vote to Polanski's 33% in the London seat vacated by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
- Earlier this month, Green Party members voted 1,022 to 813 to declare Zionism a form of racism and back a "single democratic Palestinian state," a resolution that divided the party and alarmed Jewish groups.
- Polanski faced criticism for skipping the vote but told the BBC on Friday he would have opposed the motion. "I signed up for that difficult job and I'm more than ready to continue," he said, refusing to resign.
- Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar barred Polanski from entering Israel, accusing the Green Party of legitimizing the country's destruction. Polanski also remains unable to enter Parliament, having failed to become the party's sixth MP.
- Polanski faces a leadership vote next year as the Green Party has lost ground in national polls. Labour leader and Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pulled ahead by courting left-wing voters with policy proposals.
10 Articles
10 Articles
Zionism row to election loss: Will Polanski's big plans for U.K. Greens unravel?
The party leader promised to turn the Greens from a niche progressive movement into a serious electoral force. But a by-election defeat and divisions over the party's new Zionism policy pose a challenge to his leadership
Green Leader Under Pressure After UK Poll Defeat Clouded By Party’s Anti-zionist Stance
LONDON (AP) — The leader of the fast-growing Green Party in England and Wales faced questions about his future on Friday after failing to win a parliamentary seat from the governing Labour Party. Join our WhatsApp group Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email Zack Polanski is fighting a backlash over his party’s anti-Zionist stance and […]
Zack Polanski has failed the antisemitism sniff test
In a BBC interview following his by-election defeat, the populist Green Party leader refused to say that Israel has a right to exist, and conflated its current government with the state. Even Jeremy Corbyn could have done better than that, says John Rentoul
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