Kmflett's Blog

A Times Editorial (2nd May) on Zack Polanski concludes that there is no evidence that he is personally antisemitic. Given that he is the only Jewish leader of a mainstream political party it seems a reasonable point.

Not so reasonable is the cartoon of Polanski published in the same issue which depicts him as a hook nosed Jew.

Here some historical context is needed. There is no reason why Polanski or anyone else should not be caricatured in a cartoon. The hook nose however is associated with Nazi and other fascist propaganda from the 1930s.

Of course other political leaders of recent decades who are Jewish have suffered related treatment. Think of Ed Miliband and the bacon sandwich or some treatment of the former Tory leader Michael Howard.

This should serve to underline that antisemitism has a very long history in British ruling class circles and can and has been used as a way of dividing people on the basis of prejudice and bigotry.

The Green Party have complained to The Times about the cartoon. It will be interesting to see the response. If its that it was unintentional, that won’t do. The antisemitic caricatures and prejudices have deep roots. They need to be recognised and rooted out not repeated.

Zack Polanski told Laura Kuenssberg on 3rd May 2026

Zack Polanski also hit out at the Times over a caricature of him in the newspaper. The Green party has complained to the editor, saying the cartoon depicted Polanski using the antisemitic trope of a “visibly hooked nose”.

Polanski told Laura Kuenssberg: “Jewish communities aren’t safe, and this isn’t an abstract idea for me as a Jewish person.

“In fact, in the last six weeks alone two people have actually been arrested in relation to antisemitic actions towards me and just yesterday the Times newspaper published a pretty vile antisemitic caricature of me and have yet to apologise or withdraw that.”