Far-left UK Green Party leader Zach Polanski claims “Palestine is one of the elements on the ballot” in today’s local elections.
Asked by the BBC to explain what that means and why Green candidates don’t say local issues such as schools and waste management are also on the ballot, Polanski responds, “I think they can be about all of those things.”
Polanski, who is Jewish, is also pressed on whether he believes Israel has a right to exist.
“I don’t believe any country has a right to exist. People have a right to exist,” he says. “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.”
He also claims that discussing whether Israel 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 1917 British declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 7, 2026
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