{"id":562708,"date":"2026-05-02T16:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/562708\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T16:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T16:54:11","slug":"uk-green-party-leader-zack-polanski-is-an-extremist-says-israels-deputy-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/562708\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski is an ‘extremist,’ says Israel’s deputy FM"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski is an \u201cextremist\u201d who \u201clegitimizes violence against Jews,\u201d Israel\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel charged on Saturday, after the British party leader sparked anger for his reaction to this week\u2019s antisemitic terror stabbing<\/a> in London\u2019s Golders Green that left two Jewish men seriously wounded.<\/p>\n

After a video of police subduing and kicking Essa Suleiman,<\/a> the 45-year-old Somalia-born UK citizen who is suspected of being behind the attack on Wednesday, went viral online, Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post on X alleging that officers were \u201crepeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head\u201d when he was already incapacitated after being tased.<\/p>\n

Asked if she agrees with an Israeli embassy source that labeled Polanski as an \u201cextremist,\u201d Haskel told conservative British broadcaster GB News: \u201cIt is as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polanski \u201cand his party are continuing this path of conspiracy theories and hatred towards Jews and toward the Jewish community and toward British Jewish citizens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes an apology is too little, too late, especially when it comes to Polanski. When you choose to legitimize violence against Jews, you don\u2019t just make a mistake \u2013 you cross a moral line that should never be crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt normalizes hatred, emboldens others, and corrodes the standards that hold a society together. And once that line is breached, it cannot simply be undone with a few words of regret: you risk spending the rest of your life apologizing for it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDeputy Foreign Minister MK Sharren Haskel attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 2, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Polanski, who is Jewish, apologized on Friday, saying that: \u201cEveryone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologize for sharing a tweet in haste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polanski has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, called for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a warrant from the International Criminal Court, and condemned Israel\u2019s \u201chorrendous and illegal\u201d airstrikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites and ballistic missile program during the June 2025 war.<\/p>\n

While he grew up in a home he described as \u201cvery Zionist,\u201d he has said that Israel \u201cchanged,\u201d and that he is now \u201ccertainly not a Zionist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of local elections next week, Polanski\u2019s party has been embroiled<\/a> in a string of antisemitic scandals. In one incident<\/a>, candidate Tina Ion was found to be posting under the social media handle \u201cthereal.anne.frank\u201d that \u201cevery single Zionist\u201d should be killed.<\/p>\n

Additionally, candidates Sabine Mairey and Saiqa Ali, who are both running for seats in the Lambeth borough of London, were detained by the Metropolitan police on Thursday \u201con suspicion of stirring up racial hatred online,\u201d an offense under the UK\u2019s Public Order Act, for online posts.<\/p>\n

The leader himself took flak for appearing to play down the danger of antisemitism, telling<\/a> the Haaretz daily last month, \u201cthere\u2019s a conversation to be had about whether it\u2019s a perception of unsafety or whether it\u2019s actual unsafety, but neither is acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast to Polanski\u2019s comments, the head of the London Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, said<\/a> in an interview published Saturday that British Jews are facing their greatest ever threat, with social media fueling an \u201cepidemic\u201d of antisemitism, and called for 300 armed officers to be deployed to protect the Jewish community of north London.<\/p>\n


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