Politics
The Telegraph’s desperate, antisemitic attack on Zack Polanski stinks
Notorious pro–Israel bigot Stephen Pollard has written a desperate, antisemitic article trying to smear Zack Polanski. He did this in response to the Green leader backing calls to hold potential war criminals to account. And he did so in the Telegraph, which has joined other right-wing rags in publishing antisemitic Polanski caricatures.
Lobby backlash as Polanski backs accountability calls for potential war criminals
Zack Polanski, along with many other Jewish people in the UK, has been vocal in his criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And hardline Zionists (whether Jewish or non-Jewish) don’t like this. So they’ve thrown their toys out of the pram following Polanski’s backing of an open letter calling on the government to start:
monitoring the entry of British-Israeli dual national citizens into the UK and investigating potential links to war crimes, in cases where they have served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Israel fanboys like Pollard have responded by antisemitically suggesting this means ‘monitoring all Jews’. As Jewish Voice for Peace has said, such treatment of “Jewish people as a monolithic group” is a ‘contemporary expression of antisemitism’. Even the controversial IHRA definition argues that one example of antisemitism is:
Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
Pollard’s desperate, antisemitic argument in the Telegraph
We’ll talk more about Pollard in a minute. But first, let’s look at his argument in the racist Telegraph, now under the ownership of the firmly pro-Israel Axel Springer. Pollard suggested that:
- “Zack Polanski wants a Jew register”, because tracking people who have served in Israel’s occupation army during the genocide (and “just happen to be Jews”) means making a list “of bad Jews”.
- “Polanski has said not a word” about “accusations of war crimes” elsewhere in time and space. The only example he mentioned was the horrific but distant “1971 Bangladesh war of independence”. He hinted that this was relevant because “many new Green voters are drawn from those communities” (Green deputy leader Mothin Ali, for example, is a British Bangladeshi). Then, in another casual conflation of Israel and Jewish people, he added “But no Israelis were involved (let’s be honest: no Jews).” That’s why Polanski was being silent about this, he argued, rather than because it happened 55 years ago.
- Despite the overwhelming international consensus that Israel has been committing genocide, the word genocide was somehow “hotly contested” (it is by Israel and its allies, of course, but then genocidal criminals don’t tend to embrace that kind of label in public). Pollard contrasted this with the “well-founded allegation” (for which there is no overwhelming international consensus) that China’s controversial treatment of its Uyghur community may amount to genocide. (Roughly 200 people died during the July 2009 riots.)
- Polanski showing interest in the suffering of the Palestinian people was just a “strategy” to get votes from people who “only” care about the genocide in Gaza.
It's not a Jew register @stephenpollard — Mark Howell
Its a war criminal register.
Your not saying Jews are criminals again, are you?
You still can't quite kick the anti-Semite habit, can you? https://t.co/6YOugU0eOH
You and Pollard are anti-Semites; Polanski does not mention Jews, he mentions British citizens. What you are doing is akin to saying Germans got tried at the Nuremberg trials not Nazis. It is deeply racist. https://t.co/HLqw1xeSWh
— Ashunsi Ankram (@AshunsiAnkram) June 6, 2026
Away from the Telegraph, and in reality…
Some relevant facts to counter Pollard’s assertions include that:
- Not all Israelis are Jewish, and not all Jewish Israelis serve in the occupation forces (either through exemption or refusal). As the piece itself admits, military service is also compulsory for non-Jewish Israelis like Druze and Circassian citizens.
- As Polanski himself has said, conflating Jewish people with Israeli war criminals “is both harmful and antisemitic”.
- During Polanski’s short time as Green leader, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been the only genocide in which the UK has been openly complicit, which makes highlighting this as a priority very politically relevant and urgent – especially when the servile corporate media has failed to do so. The UK government is literally cracking down on protest rights as part of widespread institutional efforts to silence criticism of Israel. It’s not doing that for any other country.
- Polanski has called for “consistent international justice” and spoken out about the suffering in numerous global war zones. On the other hand, it’s people seeking to defend or downplay Israel’s crimes who usually show double standards about which criminals they condemn and which they don’t.
- Pollard isn’t someone we should go to if we want reliable, independent conclusions. He previously lost a lawsuit, for example, for making dodgy allegations relating to genocide.
- If anyone is being antisemitic right now, it’s the Telegraph and other right-wing rags:
Whilst senior editor @CamillaTominey is harassing Zack and defaming him, the @Telegraph have still not apologised for their antisemitic cartoon.
They need an immediate review into antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/6HTq0lZukI
— Harry Eccles (@Heccles94) June 6, 2026
You are a shameless liar: Polanski is calling for a list of British citizens who have fought in a probable genocide & possibly committed war crimes & other atrocities to be compiled. This is what any civilised lawful country should do https://t.co/RikAhqNjWL
— Andrew Feinstein (@andrewfeinstein) June 7, 2026
I'm sure those well known defenders of Jewish people though will be along with more Antisemitic caricatures before too long of which the establishment will still have absolutely nothing to say weeks later…. pic.twitter.com/CjvMf2wtYC
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) June 4, 2026
Pollard’s dangerous antisemitic rhetoric has always been all about defending Israel and smearing the left
Pollard has basically admitted previously that he thinks it’s ok to conflate Israel and Judaism. And he would, because he edited a right-wing pro-Israel rag for years that played a key role in vicious media efforts to keep Israel critic Jeremy Corbyn out of power.
The whole shtick of the Jewish Chronicle in the Corbyn years was basically to weaponise cynical antisemitism allegations against the left. And Pollard’s job was essentially to find antisemitism where it didn’t exist. The Peter Mandelson quote about working “every single day” to defeat Corbyn literally came from a chat with Pollard.
Nowadays, meanwhile, when Pollard isn’t hating on Polanski or spreading antisemitism in the Telegraph, he’s out defending actual racist Nigel Farage. That shows better than anything else that this is not about religion at all. It’s all about politics. And in particular, it’s about defending genocide and defending the war criminals behind it.
Seems Pollard is pro Farage’s racism & against Polanski’s anti racism. — Mick
Curious idea of what antisemitism is 
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
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