Sunday shows round-up: Polanski defends Zionism motion

Zack Polanski: ‘Zionism is racism in the practical application of it’ Earlier this month, Green party members at the party’s Brighton conference passed a motion defining Zionism as a form of racism, by 1,022 votes to 813. Zack Polanski did not take part in the vote, and four of the party’s five MPs opposed the motion. Israel’s foreign ministry said the motion was ‘a stain on the history of the United Kingdom’. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg noted the controversy and asked Green party leader Zack Polanski whether he believed Zionism was inherently racist. Polanski said the real controversy was that 75,000 Palestinians had been killed, which he claimed was the result of a ‘very obviously’ racist ideology. Kuenssberg pointed out that he had answered a different question, and pressed him on his own view. Polanski said the debate over words was about ‘semantics’, and that he had already said in several interviews that Zionism is racism ‘in the practical application of it’. Kuenssberg asked whether he accepted that, for many Jewish people, Zionism simply means the right to a safe homeland. Polanski said that is what people ‘think it means’, but claimed that in practice the homeland had come at the cost of the Palestinian people. Kuenssberg pointed out that the chair of the Jewish Greens, Vivien Lichtenstein, has called on Polanski to apologise for his handling of the debate. Polanksi said he is ‘not sorry at all’. Yvette Cooper: We have a ‘different view’ to President Trump on Ukraine This week, Donald Trump signed an executive order waiving US sanctions on Russia’s energy revenues, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described as a ‘reward’ for Vladimir Putin. On Sky News this morning, host Ayesha Hazarika asked Health Secretary Yvette Cooper whose side she thought Trump was on. Cooper said the US has long been one of the UK’s closest allies, and stressed that Nato has been ‘very clear’ about the threat Russia poses to the whole alliance. Hazarika argued that European leaders ‘bowing and scraping’ to Trump was not working, and asked why Cooper would not simply say the president was wrong. Cooper pointed to her time as foreign secretary, when the UK did not support offensive action against Iran, and said the government would keep increasing sanctions on Russian oil and gas. She insisted that ministers are ‘not commentators’, and that diplomacy should be left to the prime minister. Reform board member Gawain Towler: ‘We do not know what’s inside a man’s soul’ This week, an undercover ITV Exposure investigation filmed Reform UK councillors and candidates allegedly using racist, sexist and violent language. It also showed a local party chair in Chester advising a would-be candidate to delete social media posts supporting Tommy Robinson before vetting. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Reform UK board member Gawain Towler for his view. Towler said some of it was ‘absolutely grim’, but argued that people can lie during vetting, and that older parties have had longer to get to know their members. He claimed Reform faces more scrutiny because it threatens ‘the establishment’. Tominey put it to him that advising someone to delete posts was not vetting. Towler insisted the person was giving local advice and was not part of the vetting team. Tominey also raised Raheem Kassam, a former Farage aide, who she said had described Kemi Badenoch as a ‘Nigerian scammer’. She asked how many people with a habit of ‘saying the wrong thing’ Reform want associated with Farage. Towler admitted the party needs someone ‘strong in the centre’ with management experience, and that its structures are ‘a bit chaotic’. He compared Reform’s growth to a corner shop becoming Morrisons in the space of two years. Yvette Cooper: NHS staff who breach medical records ‘need to be sacked’ Last Saturday, 24-year-old William Chapman was killed after entering the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster. On Friday, Yorkshire Ambulance Service said two members of staff may have accessed, or tried to access, his medical records ‘without a legitimate reason’. The trust has apologised to his family and alerted the Information Commissioner’s Office. On Sky News, Ayesha Hazarika asked Health Secretary Yvette Cooper for her response, noting that there had been other reports of serious data breaches in the NHS. Cooper said she took the case ‘extremely seriously’, and that a specific investigation was underway. She stressed that no NHS staff should access records they do not need for medical care, out of ‘voyeurism’ or because a case is in the news. Cooper said she had agreed with the NHS chief executive that staff suspected of inappropriately accessing records should be suspended while investigations take place. She insisted the overwhelming majority of NHS staff respect these standards, but said that where breaches are found, those responsible should be sacked. Helen Whately: ‘The welfare system isn’t helping people who are struggling with their mental health’ The Conservatives have called on the government to take ‘urgent action’ on youth unemployment in this month’s Budget, including halving employer national insurance for workers aged 21 to 24. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg spoke to shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately, who claimed Labour policies had ‘killed jobs’, with 174,000 more young people unemployed under the government. Kuenssberg pointed out that there is evidence some young people do not feel able to look for work because of conditions such as ADHD or autism, and asked whether the Tories’ ‘tough love’ message was missing part of the problem. Whately insisted the party was looking at ‘both sides’. She said a salon owner had told her she could not keep on her apprentices because of the cost of employment, and argued that endless job rejections are ‘incredibly distressing’ for young people. She added that the welfare system is not helping those struggling with their mental health and neurodiversity.