Mayor's Question Time, London Assembly

Zack Polanski, Leader, Green Party of England and Wales; London Assembly Member

Official record: Greater London Authority: London Assembly minutes (transcript appendix). Retrieved 2 Oct 2026.

In the record, not in the score. 23 sentences from the official text. The selection rule did not choose it, so it does not count towards the score. How transcripts are chosen

Claim checkedClaim found, not checkedEmotional passage flagged as deflectingEmotional passage, fits the subject

The words of Zack Polanski as published in the official record. Questions are shown in grey boxes. Tap a marked sentence to see the label and its sources. Other speakers' full contributions are in the official record.

Thank you very much. First of all, thank you very much for your gracious and kind words. It is really appreciated. Also, to you, Chair, and the whole Assembly, I only expect this kind of civility to break out for ten minutes, but it was very nice while it existed.

Much more seriously, on Tuesday evening [9 September 2025] I attended a protest at Downing Street. This is in relation to Palestine Action and the arrival and the welcoming of President Isaac Herzog [President of Israel]. Many of us in that crowd and many Londoners felt like he should not receive handshakes, but should receive handcuffs. This is a man who said that “there is no innocent civilians in Gaza”, a man who signs bombs that are killing innocent people. As Mayor of London, using your platform, what would you want to say to those Londoners who are very concerned about the ongoing genocide that is live streamed to our phones?

I noticed that, and I agree with much of what you said. You deliberately did not use the word genocide. Do you recognise the International Court of Justice as the highest authority and court in the world that is saying this is a genocide?

It is also important as the leader of a political party to notice when someone is going down a line of principle. If it is a plausible genocide and we have the President of the country in this country who is committing a plausible genocide, should he be arrested?

The International Court of Justice has cited statements made by Herzog as “plausible evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent”. Would you agree with that?

Why are you protecting the President?

The issue could not be more serious and social media is a means to communicate with people who are really concerned that the Mayor of London seems to be protecting a Prime Minister [of the UK] that is not arresting the President of Israel.

I do think you are cheapening the discourse that we are having here because this is not about making cheap political points. It is about standing up for the Palestinians. I hope as the Mayor of London you would also stand up for the communities who are really concerned about it.

Six minutes of words and the Mayor will not acknowledge it is a genocide. Thank you, Chair.