Zack Polanski’s Greens are a toxic mix of hatred and economic illiteracy

The Green Party in England and Wales recently presented a set of policies that have alarmed observers, combining antisemitic rhetoric with economically ill-conceived proposals. At their conference in Brighton, the party's leader, Zack Polanski, must now navigate the challenge of forging a coherent, popular, and credible policy platform.

Their most controversial motion declares that "Zionism is racism" based on the framework of European settler-colonial systems of domination and oppression. This stance places them at odds with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which supports a two-state solution, and further contradicts the reality that a single Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would be unsafe for the 7.5 million Jews living in the region.

Economically, the Greens emphasize putting "people and planet ahead of fiscal rules" and claim they are moving "beyond an obsession with GDP and interest rates." However, their policies, such as greater public control of banking and finance, increased public investment, affordable homes, green transition, and higher spending on healthcare, signal a statist philosophy that prioritizes spending over fiscal restraint.

Their proposed solutions, including a publicly owned retail bank, community banks, and limiting private banks, as well as a wealth tax and higher taxes on investment income, demonstrate a fundamental opposition to private wealth. Critics argue that these policies will lead to increased government spending, potentially exacerbating healthcare costs as the population ages and treatments become more expensive, while ignoring the complexities and limitations of wealth taxation, which have been repealed in several countries since their introduction.