Britain’s censorship of Palestine is doomed to fail
Green Party leader Zack Polanski
Rachel Spence writes in The New Arab on 3 July 2026:
A few weeks ago, the director of the British Palestinian Committee Sara Husseini spoke of the anxiety suffered by British Palestinians after nearly three years of censorship, cancellation and denial of their experience since the Gaza genocide began in October 2023.
It’s not just Palestinians who feel traumatised. Many Jews also feel gaslit by the absence of an honest conversation around Israel and Palestine, past and present.
Anti-Zionist Jewish voices – like mine – are rarely heard on mainstream media. When one of our number, such as Zack Polanski, becomes too significant to ignore, efforts are made to smear him despite his own Jewish identity. I was horrified to see Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips dismiss Polanski’s reminder that he and many others with pro-Palestinian views were Jewish. “No, don’t try that one on me,” chided Phillips.
The clip of Phillips invalidating Polanski’s Judaism was sent to me by a Muslim friend who observed, “The progressive Jew is the most terrifying figure to the Zionist establishment. That’s why they keep trying to pretend you don’t exist.”
This landscape of dishonesty has alarming implications. As the rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks shows, the delusion that Israel is a viable nation-state rather than a settler colonial entity is putting our communities in danger.
The risk extends to all who are committed to truth and justice. Consider the treatment of Misan Harriman. The renowned photographer and chair of the Southbank Centre, Harriman, called out the media and the Metropolitan police for failing to report that the assailant responsible for attacking two Jewish men in Golders Green had previously stabbed a Muslim man.