In 2013, before entering politics, the leader of the UK Green Party was a hypnotist. In that activity, she developed the alleged ability to put her clients in a mental state such that, with the power of her mind, they managed to make their breasts grow, something unparalleled since the birth of modern hypnosis in France a century and a half ago. The tabloid newspaper The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, sent its reporter Kasie Davies to investigate the phenomenon. The result was a report exquisitely titled "Tetanotized" (which in English sounds almost the same as "hypnotized"), with the necessary graphic documentation, in which Davies explained how, in a single session, Zack Polanski had made his bra size go from 32A to 36B. According to ChatGPT, that means an increase in circumference "of 12.7 centimeters."
The current green leader did not protest the article. What's more, a week later he told the very rigorous BBC that "there is beginning to be evidence, at least anecdotal, of an increase in breast size" among his clientele. Be that as it may, two years later he was no longer practicing hypnosis, but politics, in the centrist Liberal-Democratic Party, from which he jumped to the 'greens', of which he became leader in September 2025.
In the last 13 months, as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Polanski has also managed to hypnotize a segment of the British left, to the point of achieving the definitive electoral 'change of size' in March, April and May: the overthrow of Labour. The nationalist Reform UK, led by the intellectual father of Brexit, Nigel Farage, has been ahead of the Conservatives in the polls since January. So it was the Greens' turn to do the same on the left. That was the stellar moment for Polanski, who had taken the 'green' reins in September, with the party at 10% voting intention, and had taken it to 21% in five months, according to the population survey company YouGov.
It was a short-lived boom. Support for the Greens today is, again, 10%. And the party is also mired in tremendous controversy at all levels after it approved a motion on Sunday stating that "Zionism is racism," which "privileges one ethnic group in relation to others." The Greens declare their support for "a single Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital." The resolution implies the rejection of Israel as a Jewish State and, on the ground, the opposition to the peace plan that is based on the creation of two States, one Jewish, formed by today's Israel, and another Palestinian, whose extent and shape have never been unanimously defined and which, furthermore, have been shrinking since the proposal was first raised in 1937, before the creation of Israel itself.
Approval of the change was stormy. In May, a similar attempt failed amid considerable Green infighting. And now it has only had 55.7% of the support of those attending the party's annual conference, where it was approved. Once accepted, it has unleashed a tremendous internal storm. Four of the five Green MPs in the House of Commons have declared that they oppose it. And Labor Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called it "completely wrong" and a "tremendous error of judgment" that "should not be supported in any way, shape or form."
The idea fits perfectly with Polanski, who has defined himself as an "anti-Zionist Jew," and who has been defined by the centrist Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post as an "anti-Israel Jew." The Government of that country has prohibited the entry of the 'green' leader, and the European Green Party, which brings together 47 European parties - including the one led by Polanski - has demanded "urgent clarification." Harsher has been the largest European environmental party, the German Alliance90/The Greens, whose co-leader, Felix Banaszak, has described the equalization of Zionism and racism as "intolerable and unacceptable."
The statement on Zionism thus appears to be a self-inflicted blow by the Greens just when their electoral prospects are deteriorating, partly because of Burnham's popularity and partly because of Polanski's own mistakes. Even among the party's Hebrew community there is vision. According to the 'Green Jews' organization, less than 20% of that group defines themselves as "Zionist", but 68% fear that the resolution will harm them at the polls.
And that is Polanski's other great front: the polls. On Thursday, the 'green' leader lost the election to former Prime Minister Keir Starmer's seat in London. It was a classic move by the former hypnotist turned politician: spectacular, unexpected, and bold. And, also, with very little chance of success. Polanski sought above all to improve the party's public profile. His foreseeable defeat did not prevent him from obtaining a good result in a completely Labor constituency.
The problem is the 'timing'. The failure comes with the Greens falling in the polls, and in the midst of the anger over Zionism. This is how the first voices have begun to rise in the party calling for the leader's resignation. Although for the moment his leadership seems solid, if he does not change course, Zack Polanski's political career is in danger of ending up as forgotten as his activity as a hypnotist.
