UK Media Accused of Antisemitic Campaign Against Jewish Green Party Leader

According to local election results across England in early May 2026, the anti-immigration Reform Party won big, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party suffered heavy losses. The Conservatives also lost many seats, but the Green Party made significant gains. Analysts say the election shows the two-party system is dead, but the country is moving toward a far-right government.

The author of the analysis on Middle East Eye points out that in recent weeks, an organized campaign has targeted Zack Polanski – the newly elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. Under his leadership, the Greens have risen to second or third place in national polls, breaking the two-party monopoly that has lasted over a century. Polanski is the only Jewish leader of a major party in the UK.

The article compares media treatment of Polanski and Reform Party leader Nigel Farage. For two decades, Farage has received a continuous free publicity campaign from right-wing newspapers and the BBC. Farage's frequency of appearances on the BBC's Question Time is just one example. In contrast, left-wing figures rarely get airtime and are often treated with hostility.

The tactics against Polanski, according to the author, are nearly identical to the campaign that targeted former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a decade ago: accusing a party leader who has spent his life fighting racism of being an antisemite. For Polanski, media opponents accuse him of being friends with Islamic extremists and leading a party rife with antisemites.

The intensity of the smear campaign increased in the days before the local election, with blatant antisemitic expressions, particularly crude caricatures of Polanski in newspapers like The Times, reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s. The author highlights the bitter irony that the media accuses Polanski of antisemitism while using the very antisemitic stereotypes and caricatures to attack him.

Polanski has acknowledged some social media missteps, such as sharing a post critical of the police or exaggerating his role at a charity. The media also recycled old stories, including one fabricated by The Sun about his supposed ability to hypnotize women to enlarge their breasts. Labour Blairite minister Steve Reed is said to have led a witch-hunt to purge left-wing candidates from the Green Party, resulting in two candidate arrests in London for antisemitic hate speech.

The author concludes that the attack campaign will not stop, but Polanski can learn from Corbyn's history – who still secured 40% of the vote in the 2017 general election despite relentless negative attacks. The advice for Polanski is not to accept the media narrative, not to apologize without reason, and to continue pushing bold policies such as wealth taxes, rent controls, and nationalization of essential services.