Polanski stays on after Zionism vote and by-election defeat
Zack Polanski has said he will stay on as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, after members passed a motion describing Zionism as a form of racism and after he lost the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
He told the BBC he would not resign. The call for him to stand down came from Vivien Lichtenstein, leader of the Jewish Greens, after the dispute over the motion and the by-election defeat BBC.
The motion describes Zionism as support for an "ethnonationalist Jewish state", a state defined by Jewish national identity BBC. It also supports a single democratic Palestinian state covering present-day Israel.
The broader context here is that this wording goes further than criticism of the current Israeli government. It questions the basis of a two-state settlement, the long-discussed plan for separate Israeli and Palestinian states.
The motion and the missed debate
Polanski was not in the hall for the conference debate. He defended his decision to miss the debate on the motion. He denied deliberately avoiding it.
He was asked about his absence by Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Polanski said he was campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, a Westminster vote to fill a vacant seat, when the debate took place BBC. He lost that contest. He has since faced questions about his future Washington Post.
In a later interview, Polanski said he would not have voted for the motion BBC. Under Green Party rules, motions passed by members set the party's policy, even when the leader disagrees.
In his formal response on 5 October, Polanski said "antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct" Green Party. In the same statement he said he "would not accept exclusion or refusal to engage with anyone because of the religious or communal body they are part of".
Looking at the wording, he is trying to keep two positions together. He supports criticism of Israel. He rejects antisemitism. He also rejects the exclusion of Jewish members from internal debate.
Fallout inside and outside the party
Israel has banned Polanski from the country after the party passed the motion BBC. The ban applies to him personally as leader. It limits direct contact by the party leadership with Israeli officials or civil society groups in Israel.
Inside the party, Jewish Greens officers had urged members to vote against the motion at the Spring 2026 conference Jewish Greens. The motion then came back and was passed at the autumn conference.
Jewish Greens have also said claims that Jewish Green officers organised a campaign to filibuster the motion, to talk at length to use up debating time, are not true Jewish Greens. The denial relates to claims about how the debate was handled as well as what was decided.
The row is not confined to England and Wales. Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer described Zionism as racist BBC. The Scottish Greens are a separate party from the Green Party of England and Wales, with their own leadership, conference and Holyrood group. Holyrood is the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Greer's comment means the position has support at leadership level in Scotland, while it is rejected at leadership level in London.
Lichtenstein linked her call for Polanski to resign to two issues: management of policy and the election result. Polanski stood in Holborn and St Pancras and did not win.
The broader context here is the tension between member control and leader accountability. Like a members' parliament, Green conference often passes motions the leader would not have chosen. Leaders are expected to accept the process even when they disagree with the result. Polanski has followed that pattern in part, by saying he would not have voted for it while accepting it as party policy.
Looking at what this means for party management, three tests now sit alongside each other. The first is complaints and care for members, and whether Jewish members feel able to take part. The second is relations with other parties at Westminster and with Jewish community organisations. The third is credibility with voters, after the loss in a seat the leadership had targeted. Conference has voted. The leader has disagreed with conference while promising to stay. The Jewish Greens leadership has said that is not enough. The next signs will be procedural: how the executive writes the motion into policy papers, what guidance goes to candidates, and whether any formal challenge to Polanski is made through the party's own rules.
