Zack Polanski may regret not using his influence when Greens needed him to act

Zack Polanski campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. His critics say he abdicated responsibility when it mattered most. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Shortly after the Greens’ triumph in February’s Gorton and Denton byelection, with the party polling above 20%, Zack Polanski seemed as if he might be taking the party into a new era. Now, some members fear he has led them off an electoral cliff.

It is not Polanski’s direct responsibility that the English and Welsh Greens are saddled with an official policy stating that Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, is a type of racism, and that Israel should be replaced by a Palestinian state. The party is a direct democracy, and the members decide.