Zack Polanski in fiery BBC grilling over pro-Palestine protests | Politics | News

Zack Polanski said he was against banning the slogan “Globalize the Intifada”.

The comments came after the Prime Minister said protesters had a responsibility to chant the same slogan during Gaza marches.

The Green Party leader told the BBC’s program with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday: “It’s not a phrase I would personally use, and that’s because I think if there are other phrases you can use or other ways of doing things then why not do them?”

“I want people to be more effective, so I wouldn’t encourage people to use it because I actually think you can get your point across much more effectively without getting into this debate about language.

“Words matter, but the tens of thousands of Palestinians that have been killed, the people that have been killed in Lebanon, those people matter too, and I think if people want to protest, it’s important that we defend their right to protest.

“Well, to give you a more direct answer, I don’t recommend using that phrase, but I’m not interested in trying to police people’s language.”

On Thursday, the Prime Minister said he favors prosecuting those who use the phrase “globalizing the intifada,” which critics believe is a call for broader use of violence against Israelis and the Jewish people.

Mr Polanski also refused to defend police tactics during the arrest of the Golders Green terror suspect.

When asked twice to say it was “proportionate”, he told the BBC it was “not the right forum” to discuss the issue.

This comes days after officers apologized for sharing a post in which he accused the stabbing suspect of violently kicking him in the head after he was already immobilized.

Mr Polanski used the Sky News interview to attack Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley after he wrote an open letter criticizing him for retweeting X post about the Golders Green attack.

The Green Party leader, who later apologized for this post, said that the police should not be out of control.