Zionist Greens label Zack Polanski antisemitic in further leaked WhatsApp Messages

The Canary can reveal further leaked WhatsApp messages from a secretive, Zionist Green Party group called ‘Greens Against Antisemitism’. The group appears to be orchestrating a campaign to brand opponents as antisemitic while plotting to sink a historic anti‑racist motion: Zionism Is Racism.

More leaked Green Party WhatsApps

At a time when the Green Party of England and Wales faced a watershed vote on whether to declare itself an anti‑Zionist party, internal messages obtained by the Canary lift the lid on a coordinated effort by a Zionist faction to manipulate the democratic process and drive out members who support Palestinian liberation.

Following our investigation into Disciplinary Committee member Rachel Collinson – which potentially exposed her apparent bias and potential abuses of power – a fresh cache of leaked WhatsApp messages from the same group, Greens Against Antisemitism (GAA), now reveals yet more wild accusations and conspiratorial organising behind the scenes of the Green Party.

At its centre is long‑standing party figure Elise Benjamin, whose messages lay bare a strategy of procedural sabotage, smear‑by‑accusation, cynical weaponisation of antisemitism, an apparent closeness to UK Lawyers For Israel and even genocide denial:

The messages, which date from the months leading up to Spring Conference, show Benjamin – with help from her husband Craig – actively plotting to derail the motion Zionism Is Racism, a motion that would formally commit the Green Party to an anti‑Zionist position:

The effect of such a blizzard of amendments is obvious: at a packed conference, contentious motions can be squeezed out of the timetable or diluted into meaninglessness. This stifles a democratic vote and could work to paint one of the most popular grassroots campaigns in the party as procedurally toxic.

Even Zack Polanski is now an antisemite

The leaked conversations also show Benjamin reaching for the label ‘antisemite’ with a promiscuity that makes a mockery of genuine anti‑racist work. The list of her targets, named directly in the chat, includes:

• The Canary.
• Jewish anti‑Zionist campaigner Tony Greenstein.
• Green Party councillor and YouTuber Kernow Damo.
• Anti‑racist social media account Bladeofthesun.
• American streamers Hasan Piker and Cenk Uyghur.
• The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its former director Ben Jamal.
• Rapper and activist Lowkey.
• And even the party’s own Jewish leader, Zack Polanski.

Most disturbingly, Benjamin floats an extraordinary conspiracy theory concerning PSC and Ben Jamal:

To suggest that the UK’s foremost Palestinian solidarity organisation – and its Palestinian‑led leadership – were somehow complicit in the events of 7 October 2023 is a grotesque smear that trades on the darkest Orientalist tropes.

But there is one form of antisemitism that Benjamin apparently cannot see.

When a member of the GAA chat raised the Times’ widely condemned caricatures of Green Party leader Zack Polanski – images that evoked the most hateful Nazi‑era stereotypes – Benjamin’s response was telling:

By contrast, Benjamin rushes to defend openly far-right Zionist group Our Fight when its use of Union Jack imagery is questioned:

Our Fight is a hardline organisation directed by former Spiked columnist Mark Birbeck. It deploys militaristic, British‑fascist aesthetics redolent of Britain First and the EDL, as well as organising delegations of non‑Jewish supporters to travel to the Zionist entity in occupied Palestine.

Hollowing out democracy

These messages, coupled with the previous leaks regarding Disciplinary Committee member Rachel Collinson, show a worrying pattern of seeing everyone this group disagrees with as antisemitic and organising – on those grounds – to have people that align with anti-Zionist views extradited from the party.

The Green Party leadership now faces a clear choice: side with the members who want to confront apartheid and racism in all its forms or allow a small cabal to hollow out the party’s internal democracy, one bad‑faith accusation at a time.

The Canary will continue to follow this story.

We tried to reach out to Elise Benjamin for comment via multiple platforms, but did not receive a response at the time of publication. 

Featured image via the Canary