Zack Polanski has accused Labour of “using Jewish pain” to justify an “authoritarian” agenda in considering banning pro-Palestinian marches after the Golders Green attack.
The Green Party leader, who is the only current Jewish leader of a major political party in the UK, hit out at home secretary Shabana Mahmood as she hinted at using new powers for a crackdown on marches protesting against Israel.
Home Office minister Mike Tapp said: “I’m disgusted that anyone with this view is leading any political party. The Green Party has hit a new low.”
The row broke out as the Jewish community reels from an antisemitic terror attack in Golders Green, the centre of London’s Jewish community, on Wednesday. During the attack, a 45-year-old man stabbed two Jewish men – one in his seventies and the other in his thirties – before being brought down by local police.
There are growing calls for tougher action against antisemitism, including from Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, in the wake of the attack
Some have called for a suspension of pro-Palestine marches in the wake of an attack. Earlier, Ms Mahmood had hinted that a new law brought in by Labour could be used to stop marches from going ahead after Jonathan Hall, the terror laws watchdog, said antisemitic language is “incubated” in the protests.
But Mr Polanski told The Independent: “It is an outrage that this increasingly authoritarian government would now seek to use the pain of the Jewish community to seek further restrictions on the rights to peaceful protest. The Green Party will fight any restrictions on peaceful protest, whatever the cause, every step of the way.”
The Gaza issue has become a major dividing line between Labour and the Greens, with Mr Polanski’s party recently winning the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester, where part of its strategy was to target Muslim voters.
According to polling expert Lord Robert Hayward, Labour are set to lose 1,850 of their council seats in the 7 May local elections while the Greens are expected to gain 500.
The Green Party is particularly projected to replace Labour in large parts of London, with all 32 borough councils up for election.
Labour’s balanced approach to Gaza and refusal to ban weapons sales to Israel has been one of the factors that has led to supporters and former members switching to the Greens.
Mr Polanski went on: “Jewish communities are waking up this morning feeling incredibly scared after another attack in this wave of odious antisemitic attacks.
“This is a time for politicians to work together to protect Jewish people – but some party leaders are instead using this moment to make party political attacks.”
He added: “I am the only Jewish leader of a major political party and I suffer antisemitic abuse every single day. For other politicians to use antisemitism as a political football, especially after these horrific attacks, is utterly appalling and should be beneath them.
“We must also be very clear that any response to these abhorrent attacks that curtails our civil liberties would be wrong. For a government to seek to use the pain of the Jewish community to restrict our right to peaceful protest would be a dangerous error.
“We must not respond to grave moments like this by turning inwards, or by clamping down on our hard-won rights. Instead, we must stand firm both in defending communities against such attacks and by confidently protecting the right of all of us to peaceful protest.”
Asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme whether she thinks that sometimes pro-Palestine marches can foster hate towards British jews, Ms Mahmood said: “Yes. I mean, look, it’s certainly the case that, of course, the right to protest is a fundamental British freedom, and people from across the political spectrum use that freedom in order to make their point.
“That is how we work as a democracy, and it’s an important freedom that we, all of us, have.
“But certainly there are far too many instances at protests where crimes are committed, where hate crime is committed. And also the scale of those protests, the intensity, the repeat nature of protests has placed particular pressures on the Jewish community, especially, but not limited, limited to in London.”
Earlier, she told BBC Breakfast: “I have already changed the law, and I won’t hesitate to do so again.”
