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UK Green Party elects new leader who accuses Israel of ‘genocide’

A Jewish London assembly member, he has also claimed that its prime minister has committed war crimes.

Zack Polanski
Zack Polanski. Credit: Bristol Green Party/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

The Green Party of England and Wales elected a 42-year-old Jewish London assembly member, who has accused Israel of genocide and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes, as its party leader on Tuesday.

“As a Jewish person, I know that ‘never again’ means never again for everyone,” Zack Polanski stated on July 27. “End the genocide.”

Jake Wallis Simons, former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, called Polanski “a disgrace to his own people.”

In the UK general election on July 4, 2024, the Green Party gained three seats—from one to four—out of a total of 650 parliamentary seats. It was the first time that it had secured more than a single seat, according to a parliamentary analysis, which noted that Green parties won 6.7% of the vote nationally, compared to 2.7% in 2019.

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