Polanski Loses UK By-Election Amid Green Party Israel Crisis — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Zack Polanski lost a London parliamentary by-election Thursday, winning 33% of the vote compared to 45% for Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali in a constituency the Greens had high hopes of winning
- The Green Party's conference approved a motion defining Zionism as an ideology supporting 'an ethnonationalist Jewish state' and calling for a 'single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine,' effectively dissolving modern-day Israel
- Polanski, who is Jewish and has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, was absent when members voted on the motion; on Friday he said he would have voted against it but agreed with its substance and refused to resign
- Israel has banned Polanski from entering the country and described the motion as an 'antisemitic text,' while the European Green Party distanced itself and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution
- Court filings revealed that the party member who proposed the motion had written a letter supporting a man convicted in the United States of aiding al-Qaeda
- Former Green leader Caroline Lucas, who voted against the motion, publicly questioned Polanski's leadership on the BBC, saying she had hoped he would be 'a very strong critic' of it
- The Green Party's membership more than tripled under Polanski's year-long leadership, from 68,000 to over 200,000, with support hitting 21% in some polls last March before Labour's new leader and Prime Minister Andy Burnham pulled ahead
Why it matters: Labour's Andy Burnham has overtaken the Greens in polls while Polanski simultaneously lost a by-election, faces public criticism from former leader Caroline Lucas, and has been banned by Israel — a convergence of pressures his 200,000-member surge has so far not absorbed.
Ask SkimNews
