Polanski's Green Party Faces Anti-Semitism Accusations

0:00On March 27, family members of Green Party leaders Zach Polanski worry they might have to leave the United Kingdom if he ever became Prime Minister. Polanski, who comes from a Jewish family in Solford, has led the party to a surprise by election win last month. But relatives say his leadership has pulled the Greens toward anti-Israel positions that class with their heritage. This weekend, the party holds its spring conference, where members will vote on emotion-calling Zionism, racism. It pushes for sanctions against Israel and backs resistance to its occupation, while ignoring common definitions of anti-Semitism. Critics say this marks a shift from the Greens environmental focus to attracting far-left and Islamist activists. Several of Polanski's extended family members no longer speak to him, shocked by the party's direction. They describe it as turning into something hostile to Jews, with one relative calling the motion sickening. Even Jewish Greens, a group he once joined, warranted attacks the basic right to a safe Jewish life.

1:01The campaign against anti-Semitism accuses the party of amplifying the worst anti-Jewish rhetoric in British politics lately. Conference motions mostly skip the environment, instead targeting things like closing London City Airport, quitting NATO, and giving prisoners the vote. Polanski's mother remains supportive despite disagreements, but the family rift runs deep. A party spokesman calls the criticism, anti-Semitic harassment, and defends him as one of few Jewish party leaders in British history as the conference. Vote Looms