JTA — Britons voting in local elections on Thursday were set to deliver an answer to the question of whether their country’s legacy parties still hold wide appeal.

More specifically, the results, emerging throughout Friday, will also illuminate just how willing British voters are to overlook antisemitism accusations around a rising left-wing party — and potentially propel its leader, a 43-year-old Jewish activist who describes himself as “certainly not a Zionist,” into the upper echelon of British politics.

If Zack Polanski delivers the gains to the Green Party’s local leadership that polls have indicated are possible, he will instantly become one of the most high-profile Jewish progressives in the world. But unlike Bernie Sanders, the Jewish US senator who is a doyen of the global progressive movement, Polanski has from the start made anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian politics a centerpiece of his party’s platform — a reflection of how the war in Gaza has reshaped politics, and a gateway for antisemitism allegations that have dogged the Greens ahead of the election.

Polanski said that antisemitism is “completely unwelcome” in the party as accusations thronged dozens of candidates heading into elections. More than 30 candidates are being investigated in an internal party probe.

But Jewish leaders and politicians, as well as London’s top police officer and members of other parties, say Polanski has failed to act strongly enough and runs the risk of inflaming antisemitic sentiment as violence against British Jews surges. And even Jewish members of the Green Party — who are increasing in number — have objected to some of the party’s moves against Israel.

Two Greens candidates in London were arrested last week on suspicion of “stirring up racial hatred online,” according to the Metropolitan Police. One of them, Sabine Mairey, said in a post, “Ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism, it’s revenge.” The other, Saiqa Ali, shared an image of an armed man wearing a Hamas headband with the slogan, “Resistance is freedom.”

The party also recently dropped support from Tina Ion, a candidate in Newcastle who said that “every single Zionist” should be killed on an account called “thereal.anne.frank.” Two other Newcastle candidates lost their endorsements just days before the elections. Philip Brookes posted that it “takes serious effort not to be a tiny bit antisemitic,” and Mohammed Suleman reposted a video claiming that Jews were willing to bury Soviet prisoners alive under Nazi instruction during World War II.

Polanski told the BBC on Wednesday that these messages were “unacceptable.” He said the party was ensuring a “standardized vetting process” and “compulsory training” for all candidates to “make it clear that antisemitism is completely unwelcome in the Green Party, as it is in society.”

He added, “It is also important to say one case of antisemitism 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.”

The scandal comes with Labour predicted to lose well over half of its 2,500 seats on English local councils, especially to the Greens in London and the right-wing Reform UK in northern England. The two formerly fringe parties have framed the local elections — which select officials who manage municipal services and affairs — as a referendum on legacy politics, a weak economy, poor public services and an unpopular leader in Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

While polls suggested that multiple parties would benefit from the losses by Labour, Starmer’s party, the Greens were being watched especially closely because of what their momentum could signal for the future of the British left.

The leading Jewish critic of Israel in UK politics

Polanski is the most prominent Jewish critic of Israel in mainstream UK politics. He has called to end all arms sales, trade and diplomatic ties with Israel, and decried Starmer for complicity in what he says is “the very obvious........

© The Times of Israel