The Green Party is facing a test over anti-Semitism ahead of local elections, with a number of candidates accused of anti-Jewish sentiments in their social media posts. “Shocking a synagogue is not antisemitism. It is revenge,” said one candidate in Lambeth; “Jewish Nazis” are “money grabbing thieves”, wrote another candidate in Newcastle, who uses the pseudonym “The Real Anne Frank”. After yesterday’s (April 29) terrorist attack against Jews in northwest London, tolerating these candidates will only seem more dangerous and irresponsible.
In a rather extraordinary development, Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali has encouraged some of the candidates suspended on charges of anti-Semitism to take legal action against the party. of Times revealed this morning that, in leaked recordings, he told Greens on Palestine members he was “very concerned” about the suspensions. “We need to get some serious legal advice. We need to make sure we’re putting the party on notice right away and we need to start some class actions. Because it’s not going to be the end. They’re going after more and more people.”
Polanski gave his first extended interview about his Jewish identity, his political journey and allegations of anti-Semitism against his party in a New statesman part published last week. It was difficult to write; he is a Jew, I am not; I know many Jews find his stance on anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, and where he draws the line between the two, painful. It was an interview, not a show, giving him the space to express his opinion on an issue I could see he was struggling with. Read it in full. For all those passages about his party, its position on Israel, on complaints, I could tell he was nervous, piling warning after warning, pausing to choose his words; more hesitant than anything else we talked about that morning.
You can see why he’s nervous. One only has to look at his social media to see dozens of comments under every post, calling for the reinstatement of some of those who have been suspended from the party. His vice-president has expressed his disagreement with the basis on which the suspensions are made. Polanski, meanwhile, is facing pressure in another direction to go further, over candidates he has not commented on, or from whom the party has not distanced himself, and over his comments as a leading Jewish figure in public life about the safety of British Jews and his changed mind about anti-Semitism allegations against Jeremy Corbyn.
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Polanski told me that the main lesson he should learn from Corbyn is to better target anti-Semitic accusations. For this, he is absolutely right. It is not yet clear what he meant by this, and exactly how he would do it.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; get it every morning by subscribing to Substack here
(Further reading: We are under attack)
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