The leader of the Jewish Greens has called for Zack Polanski to step down as pressure increases on the Green leader to acknowledge anger within the party over a new policy that equates Zionism with racism and calls for the state of Israel to be abolished.
The comments by Vivien Lichtenstein come after Caroline Lucas, the Greens’ former leader and first MP, criticised Polanski for a lack of leadership in missing the debate and vote at the weekend that resulted in the policy being passed.
However, another member of Jewish Greens said Lichtenstein’s comments did not reflect the majority view in the group, and that a vote of no confidence in her had been tabled.
Lichtenstein had said she was considering quitting the Green party of England and Wales following the vote at the party conference to adopt the policy, which states that Zionism is racism and calls for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state.
Polanski was not at the conference on Sunday when the motion was debated; instead he was campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, in which he finished second to Labour.
In interviews after the byelection loss, Polanski, who is Jewish, said he would have voted against the motion had he attended. Two amendments he supported, both saying any future structure of a Palestinian state should be decided by Palestinians rather than a one-state system being imposed, were voted down.
Lichtenstein, speaking to Times Radio, said that even though Polanski was campaigning, he should have spoken and voted for the amendments online, which was an option. “He should have done that. And I think that was a big mistake on his part.”
She said she was surprised to hear Polanski say he had been working with Jewish members of the party, adding: “I don’t know which Jewish members of the party he’s been working with. It certainly hasn’t been with the Jewish Greens committee.”
Asked if Polanski should continue in his role, she replied: “No, I think he should resign.”
However, Annie Gottfried Cohen, who is communications officer of the Jewish Greens, said she and some other officers in the group disputed Lichtenstein’s claim that Polanski had not worked with Jewish members, saying he “held a long meeting with the Jewish Greens committee on this motion back in August”.
She said: “Vivien’s views do not represent all or even the majority of Jewish Greens, many of whom have been campaigning for Zack all week, and some of whom, myself included, are furious that she has made this call in her capacity as chair of Jewish Greens. A motion of no confidence in the chair is being tabled as a result, asking her to step down.”
A number of group members supported the motion and others were critical of only some parts of it, she said.
But Lucas, who remains one of the Greens’ best-known and popular figures, said on Thursday that Polanski “should have been there and he should have voted”.
Speaking to Newsnight, before the byelection result, she said: “I would have hoped that he would have really been a very strong critic of this motion, because the motion was flawed from top to bottom in my view. It’s dangerous, it’s divisive, it tries to have a singular definition of Zionism when we know that there are many.”
Asked if Polanski should stand down, Lucas did not definitively say he should remain as leader: “I think let’s just see what happens in the … coming days and weeks.
“Obviously he has been completely taken up with this byelection. I want him to speak now about what’s happened. I want him to show the leadership that was frankly missing on Sunday. I think the jury is out about whether or not he will do that, but I very much hope he will.”
Jonathan Bartley, who was formerly the Green co-leader with Lucas and is now a councillor in Lambeth, south London, called on Polanski to “put his hands up” and apologise. “I think [the policy vote] was a failure of leadership from Zack and there is a certain toxicity now from the Green party,” he told the BBC.
There is no formal mechanism for ejecting a leader of the Greens. However, they are re-elected every two years, meaning Polanski, who took over in September 2025, will have to go before party members again in less than a year.
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