Green candidate and party leader Zack Polanski at the Jewish Community Hustings

ZACK Polanski was heckled in the room – and then cheered by his supporters outside it – when he told a Jewish community hustings that he believed Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza and that a definition of Zionism was racism.

While some residents and local politicians have appealed for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election campaigns to concentrate on constituency issues, the Middle East has dominated the only two hustings events so far.

Last week, Mr Polanski, the Green Party’s national leader and candidate for the October 8 contest, received hearty applause at the Camden Muslim Network’s event in Somers Town. But on Thursday night he faced boos and anger when he repeated his views in front of an audience brought together by the London Jewish Forum and the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Mr Polanski’s answers dominated the session at the Montagu Centre in Maple Street, Fitzrovia. The location had been kept secret until the last possible moment amid tight security – arrangements which have become commonplace for Jewish community events amid recent antisemitic threats and attacks.

The first question from the floor asked the five of the 15 candidates standing in next week’s by-election: are you a Zionist, yes or no?

Mr Polanski replied that he was an “anti-Zionist”, telling the audience: “I think countries have always been ideas and I think things change over time.”

Both Conservative Ewan Cameron and Reform’s Peter Newman answered with a straight “yes”, while Liberal Democrat Patrick Stillman said: “As I understand it, it’s for a Jewish state and a right to exist. I think that’s important — so yes I am.”

Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali did not say yes or no to the question of being a Zionist, and simply said: “I believe in a two-state solution.” She was not asked to expand at that point, and she was not asked about her views on Ed Miliband’s trade sanctions on the West Bank – which the foreign secretary expanded on during the Labour Party conference in the days that followed the hustings. She has previously said she has supported his actions, but wants to make sure community tensions are not inflamed.

Mr Polanski said he wanted to talk about housing and a need for rent controls, as well as other London issues – but he was called a “hypocrite” by audience members who said his leaflets had repeatedly referenced Gaza and that he had tried to put it at the core of his campaign. The irony was that while he had little support in the hall and faced a barrage of boos as he spoke, those who agree with his opinions were sharing his comments online as “being brave” to say them at this event.

Members of the audience also wanted to know whether Mr Polanski believed in Israel’s right to exist, to which he said that people could look at the Balfour Declaration and “see the problems with British people deciding what the future looks like in a region and actually I think it’s pretty imperial. I don’t think it’s our job to decide what the future looks like for Israelis and Palestinians. I do think it’s our job to uphold international law in the same way that we do with Russia and other countries that I believe are behaving in egregious ways. By the way, as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, I want to be lowering people’s bills and nationalising Thames Water – not deciding what the future is for Israel and Palestine.”

Mr Polanski was asked whether he felt Zionism was racism – the subject of a motion going to the Green Party conference this week. “I think there’s a problem with definitions,” he replied to more heckles. “It means different things to different people. If you’re defining Zionism as a displacement genocide, which is how, in practice, Zionism has become, then that is racism.”

Mr Stillman said: “We are committed to a two-state solution. I believe absolutely that Israelis deserve to live in peace and security. I also believe in Palestinian self-determination. I believe that has to be removed from Hamas – they can no longer be the voice of Palestine.”

Mr Cameron said Mr Polanski’s use of the words genocide and apartheid had “consequences” and said the UK needed to maintain “full democratic relations with Israel and recognise Israel as a country. It’s just obvious.” He added: “Let’s go further than that. They are friends, they are allies – we have many members of the Israeli community here in London. It’s important that we foster that relationship.”

Ms Abdi-Wali said: “I support a viable, peaceful, secure and safe Israel and I support a viable, peaceful, secure state of Palestine.

“I think it’s important we have full international law and human rights — I think everybody in this room would agree with that. It’s a fundamental belief if you care about our communities.”

Ed Miliband tells Gaza protesters: ‘You were right – we were wrong’

FOREIGN Secretary Ed Miliband has told campaigners that Labour was wrong on Gaza — and they were right.

In a speech at the party’s annual autumn conference in Liverpool, he said: “I want to say to the millions of people in this country and indeed elsewhere who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people: we hear you. You were right.”

His comments would have been considered unlikely under the previous Labour government. Sir Keir Starmer took a cautious approach to criticising Israel’s response to the October 7 atrocities, which has left tens of thousands of people dead.

“Under Andy’s leadership, we have reset our approach,” said Mr Miliband (pictured). “We call out ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists in the West Bank. We call out Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and we match words with actions.”

Sceptics at the conference said the timing of his tough talk suited the timetable for Holborn and St Pancras — an area where Labour lost council seats in May as Gaza came up on the doorstep. His speech was welcomed by Palestine solidarity groups, although Labour figures were repeatedly asked through the conference whether they were happy with elderly people being arrested at the gates for supporting Palestine Action, which former home secretary Yvette Cooper — still part of Mr Burnham’s team at Westminster — proscribed as a terrorist group. There were also calls for clarity over whether the UK would sell arms to Israel.

Mr Miliband has already sparked criticism from the Board of Deputies of British Jews – which Mr Starmer had consulted regularly as a guide while tackling antisemitism – over his sanctions announcement last month.