Green Party Votes to Label Zionism a Form of Racism, Exposing Deep Internal Rifts

Green Party members have approved a contentious policy motion that characterises Zionism as a form of racism, a decision that has laid bare sharp disagreements among the party's most senior figures and generated a fierce backlash from Jewish organisations and the Israeli government.

The motion, brought forward by a group of grassroots members at the party's conference in Brighton, was carried by 1,022 votes to 813. It defines Zionism as an ideology endorsing "an ethnonationalist Jewish state" and expresses support for "a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine."

The text further asserts that the "real, material, manifestation of Zionism has been the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians." The wording places the party's membership at odds with several of its own elected representatives and has become the dominant subject of discussion across the three-day gathering.

The vote has also highlighted a structural tension within the Greens. The party has seen a substantial influx of new members since Zack Polanski became leader in September last year, and the outcome appears to reflect the priorities of that enlarged grassroots base more closely than the positions held by the party's MPs returned at the last general election.

At the top of the party, the joint deputy leaders have taken opposing stances. Mothin Ali has backed the motion, while Rachel Millward has described its language as "problematic," underscoring the absence of a unified front among the leadership team.

Polanski himself neither spoke in the debate nor cast a vote, having departed the conference early to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, where he is seeking election as an MP. When questioned about the motion before the ballot, he said: "If your Zionism is the displacement of the Palestinian people then that is clearly racist, and I say that as a Jewish leader of a British political party."

He nonetheless sought to alter the motion through two amendments, both of which were rejected by members. One would have removed the reference to a single Palestinian state, with Polanski arguing that neither the Green Party of England and Wales nor the British government should determine the shape of any future settlement. The other would have shielded Jewish members from disciplinary action for attending synagogues that identify as Zionist.

The parliamentary wing of the party had largely come out against the motion. Four of the five Green MPs — Ellie Chowns, Adrian Ramsay, Carla Denyer and Sian Berry — publicly opposed it. Denyer warned that the wording risked "alienating a significant proportion of Jewish people," while Chowns spoke against it during the conference debate.

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas also addressed members in opposition, urging them to reject what she called the "over-simplification at the heart of this motion." She said the refusal to acknowledge complexity was causing many Jewish members to feel "scared and unwelcome" within the party.

The motion drew formal condemnation from the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council, which had written to the party before the vote. In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the two organisations labelled the motion an "attack on the Jewish community." They argued that "Zionism is anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it," and warned that branding most British Jews and Jewish institutions as racist "stokes anti-Jewish hatred." The statement cited a year in which British Jews had been murdered while attending synagogue, stabbed in the streets, and seen community buildings firebombed.

The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council directed what they termed "particular criticism" at Polanski for neither opposing the motion nor voting on it, though they welcomed the "cross-party condemnation" that followed. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the motion exceeded "the boundaries of legitimate political debate" and amounted to "a stain on the history of the United Kingdom." Later on Sunday, it announced that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar had barred Polanski from entering Israel in response.

Lubna Speitan, the Green member who put the motion forward, defended it after the result. She said its supporters wanted to express opposition to "racist systems of oppression," adding: "We stand united against all forms of racism and discrimination — no exemptions."

Following the vote, Polanski attached his name to a joint statement released by the party's five MPs and its deputy leaders. The statement committed the Greens to being "an anti-racist party in every way" and maintained that there was "no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people." Polanski has not clarified whether he personally supports the motion as passed.

A Green spokeswoman insisted the party would safeguard its Jewish members, saying they would not be persecuted for attending synagogues that define themselves as Zionist. Nevertheless, Vivien Lichtenstein, chair of Jewish Greens, told the BBC after the motion was approved that she could consider her future in the party.

The conference also saw demonstrators gather outside the venue, with some pro-Israel activists waving Israeli and Union Jack flags on Saturday. The debate over the motion, alongside discussion of the conflict in Gaza, dominated proceedings and exposed the widening distance between the party's activist membership and its parliamentary representatives.