Green leader Zack Polanski denies Israel has a 'right to exist' after insisting Palestine is 'on the ballot' for local elections

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 12:19, 7 May 2026 | Updated: 12:25, 7 May 2026 Zack Polanski has denied Israel has a 'right to exist' - after insisting Palestine is 'on the ballot' at local elections. The Green leader merely said he did not believe 'any country' had a right to exist when he was grilled on the legitimacy of the state. The comment, in an interview with ITV's Peston programme, came as Mr Polanski - who is Jewish - tries to quell concerns about anti-Semitism in his party. Yesterday the London assembly member doubled down on criticism of way the police detained the Golders Green stabbings suspect last week, saying he had been 'traumatised' by the footage.   He also said Palestine is 'one of the things' on the ballot paper for the local elections – despite being 2,000 miles from the UK and not the responsibility of English councils.  The Greens are expecting to make big gains from Labour in the local elections, particularly in the capital.   Zack Polanski said he did not believe 'any country' had a right to exist when he was grilled on the legitimacy of the state of Israel Asked on Peston about alleged anti-Semitic remarks by some council candidates, Mr Polanski said such abuse was 'unacceptable'. However, he accused opponents of trying to 'score points', arguing it is possible to be a 'proud' pro-Palestine voice without straying into anti-Semitism.  'As I've said, we need to make sure that we have a standardised vetting process in the future,' he said. Mr Polanski was asked about describing himself as a 'non-Zionist' Jew. 'It's ultimately recognising that I want to see equality for the Palestinian people, that there's been a genocide for the last couple of years that our government have been arming and sharing intelligence,' he said.  'I want to see an end to that genocide. And I want to see equality of voices at the table in making sure that we're building peace.' Pressed on whether he thought Israel had a 'right to exist', Mr Polanski said: 'I don't believe any country has a right to exist. People have a right to exist.  Yesterday the London assembly member doubled down on criticism of way the police detained the Golders Green stabbings suspect last week, saying he had been 'traumatised' by the footage 'The Israelis have a right to exist. The Palestinians have a right to exist. And I think it's our role as a third country to make sure that there's fairness and transparency and accountability about a peace process.  'I always think these semantics about whether a country has a right to exist actually just ends up in gatekeeping, which is partly how we ended up in this mess in the first place of the Balfour Declaration.' The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 statement from the British foreign secretary supporting the creation of a 'national home for the Jewish people'.   No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.