The Greens in England faced a barrage of claims of anti-Semitism among its candidates fewer than 24 hours before crucial UK local government elections that were expected to deliver a surge in support for the party.
Labour was set to release a document which it claims exposes 25 Green Party local election candidates for having “disturbing views”, including anti-Semitism.
The candidates have been accused of “a raft of harrowing anti-Semitism, dangerous conspiracy theories and appalling comments supporting Hamas and Russia”.
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred towards Jews, according to Labour.
There are also people named in the document who have allegedly posted racist remarks about Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.
One Green candidate in Bournemouth was revealed to have said “Iran should hit the White House” as it was the “headquarters of evil” after a member of a chat group hoped Iran could “destroy Israel and leave no one there”.
More than 30 million people in the UK are eligible to vote in the elections on Thursday, which include the Welsh and Scottish devolved parliaments, more than 5,000 council seats in England and across all 32 London boroughs.
Polling suggests Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party faces a drubbing at the hands of Reform from the hard right and the Greens from the left.
Zack Polanski was elected leader last year and has steered his party's rise in popularity, which has focused on pro-Palestine issues rather than its traditional environmental subjects.
He said his party was taking action to tackle anti-Semitism.
Confronted with a series of comments made by his candidates, the Greens leader told the BBC: “Those messages are all unacceptable, and it’s important to condemn that.
“The Green Party are an anti-racist party and it’s important that we stick to our values.”
He said there would be a “standardised vetting process” in future, with compulsory training for candidates, “to make it clear that anti-Semitism is completely unwelcome in the Green Party, as it is in society”.
“It is also important to say one case of anti-Semitism is one too many. This is a handful of cases and actually we have over 4,500 candidates, the vast, vast majority of which are doing amazing work in their communities right now,” he said.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed has called on Mr Polanski to rid his party of “toxic” views.
“This isn’t one or two bad apples. This is serial hatred from candidates hand-picked by Zack Polanski and the Green Party to represent them at the ballot box,” said Mr Reed.
“Voters deserve to have councillors who respect them no matter their background and who stand up for and protect all communities.
“It is clear that neither applies when it comes to Polanski’s Green Party.
“Polanski can’t stay silent on these abhorrent candidates. He needs to take action against them, withdraw his support and boot them out of the party.”
According to Labour, two of the candidates named in the document stood down before the election, but of those two, one remains on the London Green Party’s executive committee and the other has been campaigning for the Greens.
Labour added that another candidate named in the dossier says they have been suspended.
Mr Polanski was asked how he would avoid becoming a new version of leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was leader of the Labour Party when it faced a similar anti-Semitism crisis. Support for the Green Party has frequently come from former supporters of Mr Corbyn, who shifted the party to the left.
He said: “I think me and Jeremy are very different people.”
Mr Polanski has faced personal attacks after he criticised police actions as they apprehended a man who attacked Jewish people in north London.
He said he was “traumatised” by video of the alleged Golders Green attacker being tackled by police.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Two things can be true at the same time: Officers are incredibly brave when they run towards scenes of crimes that most people, including myself, will want to run away from.
“At the same time, I think it is accurate, and that I was also traumatised by seeing someone handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head.”
