Polanski says Burnham must dump Israel, and recognise genocide, for Greens’ help

Green party leader Zack Polanski has given presumptive new Labour leader and PM Andy Burnham an ultimatum over Israel. Polanski, Britain’s only Jewish party leader, has said that Burnham must dump Israel and recognise the Gaza genocide — anything less is a red line.

In remarks after a university speech, the Green party leader said that Burnham’s apparent multiple personalities over key issues was a problem. Some versions would be a natural partner for the Greens, while others would be impossible — and the early signs are worsening:

We genuinely don’t know which version of Andy Burnham turns up. I can see versions of Andy Burnham that the Green party could work with really co-operatively.

What I would say, though, is we know that Josh Simons is going to be one of his key advisers. We know that James Purnell – someone who is literally a lobbyist for private companies – I don’t believe those are people that should be advising you or be your chief of staff [if] you have anything like a progressive or socialist agenda.

So I’m still going to be making the case for the Green party. It’ll be up to Andy Burnham to make the case, if he is the leader, for the Labour party.

I’m open to that conversation. But I would say early signs are souring pretty quickly.

Polanski sets red line

And Polanski was clear that Israel is one of the key stumbling blocks — both Simons and Purnell are pro-Israel fundamentalists:

In particular, something that’s very important to lots of people in this country is the genocide in Gaza, which Andy Burnham refuses to recognise as a genocide.

Now, I know that won’t be important to everyone. But I think there’s a moral litmus test that if you can’t speak the truth or have moral clarity, then it’s very difficult to work with you. I think that’s a fundamental, basic thing.

Polanski added that the issue of the genocidal colony was “absolutely” a “red line” — along with issues of inequality and bringing in proportional representation.

During his speech to the BCC conference, the greens leader had also said that forming a ‘climate protection unit’ in Number 10 was also a must to ensure the urgent ‘heat proofing’ of Britain, adding:

The impacts of the climate and nature crisis are well and truly with us, and no-one knows that better than those trying to keep a business afloat among the chaos and disruption caused by extreme weather. This year, agricultural yields are already down more than 10% on the 10-year average for crops like wheat and oats due to the hot and dry spring and summer we saw last year. Seven in ten UK businesses have seen their annual revenue hit by the impacts of the crisis, whether that’s supply chain issues or flooding.

The impacts couldn’t be starker than what we’re seeing this week. Extreme temperatures leaving trains cancelled, employees unable to get to work – or employers forced to send their workers home because they can’t keep their workplace cool.

And we know this heatwave won’t be the end of the extreme weather. Extreme heat like this makes flooding increasingly likely – and we’ve already seen the devastating impacts of flooding on communities and businesses.

Featured image via the Canary