Patrick Stillman (left) and Zack Polanski (right) with host Mohammad Chowdhury in the middle – no other candidates attended

THE Holborn and St Pancras candidates standing in the October 8 by-election were asked on Tuesday whether they supported full boycott and divestment sanctions on Israel over its bombing of Gaza.

Well, two of them were.

Amid controversy over who did and did not attend the Camden Muslim Network’s hustings, the Green Party’s Zack Polanski and Lib Dem challenger Patrick Stillman, the only two candidates on the stage, were left to answer a series of questions, including what they thought of Ed Miliband’s recent announcements relating to sanctions on illegal settlements on the West Bank and whether more action was needed.

Mr Polanski, widely billed as Labour’s closest likely threat at the October 8 contest, told the event at the P21 cafe and gallery in Chalton Street, Somers Town: “I think the Labour government’s position is deeply cynical – to actually apologise over Gaza, to recognise mistakes have been made, but to continue to sell on to Israel, a country that’s committing a genocide.

“It’s important to say this didn’t just start with the genocide, it’s decades and generations of apartheid and occupation. I also think it’s illogical because the Labour government reduced arms sales because in Ed Miliband’s words it’s ethnic cleansing – other people say mass atrocities, I and the Green Party and I imagine most people in this room would recognise it as a genocide.

“But whatever phrase or word you use, if you recognise innocent people are dying, and our government is not just complicit in that, but active participants since they’ve been selling the arms licences, why would you reduce that? Why would you not stop it entirely?

“And as for boycott divestment sanctions, I think most people would be surprised we were trading with illegal settlements in the first place. The clue is in the phrase, illegal… settlements. Yes, I do think we need a full boycott divestment and sanctions on goods and not just some services, but all services, until Israel stop killing innocent people and stop the genocide.”

The use of the word “genocide” has been a source of contention among some groups in Camden since the response to the Hamas atrocities on Israel on October 7. It has not been used by the other parties who have won past elections in Camden, although Mr Polanski has used it freely before and during the campaign.

Mr Stillman said that he supported sanctions, but he could not back a full programme of BDS.

“I really appreciate the calls here,” he said.

“I actually work in sanctions for a living. I think that they shouldn’t be used as a sort of hammer and nail approach, and it should be a screw in which you are able to turn, because that’s what enables diplomatic dialogue to keep going.

“The Liberal Democrats have been really strong on this. We’ve called for a long time for Palestinian statehood, and the first party to do so in our manifesto and we’ve long supported trade sanctions on settlements in order to prevent and alleviate what’s happening in the West Bank and for further stabilisation.

“For me, a full boycott divestment sanction movement risks the process. It risks the two-state solution. That’s ultimately what we’re aiming for. The most recent research shows that’s what the Palestinian people want.”

The Labour candidate, Sagal Abdi-Wali, Camden’s council leader, was accused by members of the audience of not saying anything on the issue of Gaza, although the New Journal did ask a question during an interview at her campaign launch earlier this month.

She said then: “It’s obviously an issue that has been really emotional. It’s been really harrowing to watch over the past three years and I know how deeply all of our councillors care about that. I think using that type of issue as a reason to try to divide communities is really not what I want to see.

“I want to focus on making sure that we’re able to put the message of what Ed Miliband is now doing with the government and on Palestine and Israel and Gaza and the West Bank to the community. We’re going in the right direction and I want to make sure the community is aware of that rather than point at anyone else.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews is holding a hustings in the constituency later today (Thursday) aimed at Jewish residents.

Empty chair at front of room

AN empty chair was left at the front of the hustings to represent where Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali might have been.

The event in Somers Town was surrounded in controversy over why only two candidates were available for questions.

Host Mohammad Chowdhury said: “Some of us might prefer empty seats to some of what we’ve been hearing from some politicians, because empty seat can’t harm people, can’t really deprive people of housing or fund a genocide.”

He said all the candidates had been invited to the debate but only the Liberal Democrats and the Greens had agreed to attend.

This has been disputed by the Workers Party of Great Britain, which said it had not been made aware of the hustings beforehand.

Labour organisers, meanwhile, said it was only invited late on Sunday and the event hit a diary clash. Some of their candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali’s supporters, however, were sceptical about the nature of the hustings with the view that it would never have been an even playing field.

The hustings was organised by the Camden Muslim Network, which was formed in 2024 out of the Muslim Vote campaign aimed at increasing turnout.

Mr Chowdhury said that the organisation was not party political and members had a range of views.

Conservative candidate Ewan Cameron said: “I want to be an MP for those of every faith and none”, adding that his door was always open to any faith leader.

Questions from the floor at the hustings included whether there was a hierarchy of racism in the UK, whether Iran should have a nuclear bomb and why Camden Council’s phone lines weren’t easier to use.