Jewish Greens Leader Urges Polanski to Resign Over Zionism Vote

Vivien Lichtenstein, leader of the Jewish Greens, has called for Zack Polanski to resign as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.

She made the call on 9 October, after sustained criticism of a conference motion that equates Zionism with racism and calls for the state of Israel to be abolished. The conference voted to adopt the policy, which states that Zionism is racism and that Israel should be replaced by a single Palestinian state. The Guardian Zionism is a contested term, often used to mean support for Israel as a Jewish state.

Lichtenstein had already warned she was considering leaving the party after the vote. The motion drew criticism from British Jews and the Israeli government. Israel barred Polanski, who is Jewish, from entering Israel in response to the vote. Reuters

Speaking to Times Radio, Lichtenstein said Polanski should have spoken and voted online for amendments to the motion. That option was available. She called his failure to do so a big mistake. She also said she did not know which Jewish party members Polanski had been working with. It had certainly not been the Jewish Greens committee. Asked directly whether Polanski should continue, she replied: "No, I think he should resign."

Polanski was not at the conference on Sunday when the motion was debated. He was campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. He finished second to Labour, which won the seat. The result was reported on 9 October. The Guardian

Polanski said he would have voted against the motion had he attended. Two amendments he supported were voted down, including one backing a two-state solution rather than a single Palestinian state. A two-state solution means Israel and a Palestinian state existing side by side. In a BBC Breakfast appearance after the byelection, he described the motion as imperfect and said he would have voted for an amended version. He sidestepped a question about whether he thinks Zionism is racism.

Former leader Caroline Lucas criticised Polanski for missing the debate and vote. Speaking to Newsnight before the byelection result, she said Polanski "should have been there and he should have voted" and should have been a strong critic of the motion. Lucas called the motion flawed, dangerous and divisive, saying it tries to impose a singular definition of Zionism. Asked whether Polanski should stand down, she withheld full support. The jury is out, she said. See what happens in the coming days and weeks.

Former co-leader Jonathan Bartley, now a councillor in Lambeth, called on Polanski to "put his hands up" and apologise. He described the vote as a failure of leadership from Polanski and cited toxicity in the party.

Polanski has vowed to stay on as leader as criticism has mounted. BBC There is no formal mechanism for ejecting a Green leader. Leaders are re-elected every two years. Polanski took over in September 2025 and will have to go before party members again in less than a year.

The broader context here is a clash between conference power and leader power. In the Greens, members at conference set policy and the leader cannot overrule them, much like shareholders setting rules a chief executive must follow. The leader is still expected to shape the debate and absorb the political cost. Polanski backed the two-state amendments from a distance and is now absorbing the cost without having been in the room. Procedurally, with no removal process, any reckoning points toward the next leadership election. Electorally, second place in Holborn and St Pancras denies critics a clear triumph story and gives Polanski a performance argument, even as senior figures question his handling of a policy with foreign-policy and communal effects.