June  💚 #FBNHS #FBPE

Conservative London Assembly member Susan Hall accuses Zack Polanski of not caring about the Jewish community. Zack Polanski responds, "To have an Assembly member from the Conservatives point at me and pretend she cares about Jewish people, when you are weaponising anti-semitism - shame on you"

Zack Polanski speaking at the London Assembly on November 5th 2026, "The chutzpah, the audacity for you to lecture a Jewish man in the chamber on anti-semitism, will be seen as utterly absurd, as it should be" "Being Jewish and being a zionist are two different things" "We can look at zionism throughout history, whether you want to talk about it philosophically or it's practical applications" "Theodor Herzl, the modern founder of zionism said: it was a colonialist project. He saw it as that" "1948, the Nakba, 750,000 Palestinians displaced and ethnically cleansed" "2026, we have just witnessed 75,000 Palestinians murdered and more child amputees in modern history" "To the Labour group, your own Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, I had to push him several times but he eventually conceded that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide" "Is it not the Labour position that a genocide is not racist?" "That a genocide is ok?" "That your government can continue to arm a genocide, and those of us who call it out are apparently the racists" "I'm reading a book at the moment by the excellent Benjamin Moser called Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History" "It looks at the last 150 years and at Jewish people who stood on the right side of history, who said we're incredibly proud to be Jewish" "Being brought up Jewish is a huge part of my identity" "And, because I'm Jewish, I grew up with the story of teh Holocaust" "This motion was co-proposed by Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor" "And we say never again, not just for one group of people, but for all groups of people" My view: The London Assembly motion had three parts: condemning the Greens’ position on Zionism; reaffirming opposition to antisemitism and Jewish Londoners’ right to live without fear; and expressing solidarity with London’s Jewish community. Polanski opposed the first and supported the other two. That distinction matters when discussing what he voted against. There is extraordinary audacity in lecturing Britain’s only Jewish leader of a major political party about antisemitism while giving so little weight to his explanation of his own Jewish identity and convictions. His Jewishness does not place him beyond criticism. But an accusation this serious requires evidence of prejudice against Jewish people. Opposition to Zionism or condemnation of the Israeli government cannot, by themselves, establish that. Jewish people hold different views about Zionism, Israel and Palestinian rights. Those who oppose Zionism deserve to have their arguments heard without their Jewish identity being dismissed or their concern for Jewish safety treated as insincere. Equally, Jewish people who consider Zionism central to their identity deserve respect and protection from prejudice. What stood out in Polanski’s speech was his explanation that his commitment to Palestinian rights comes from his Jewish upbringing and the lessons he draws from the Holocaust. You can challenge his conclusions, or the Green motion’s wording, while recognising the moral conviction he is expressing. His final principle deserves a serious response: “never again” must mean protecting every people from persecution and mass killing. Jewish safety and freedom, and Palestinian safety and freedom are causes we should be capable of defending together.