The Green Party of England and Wales has ignited a wide-ranging political and legal row in Britain after adopting an official policy that classifies Zionism as “a form of racism” and calls for a single democratic state across all of historic Palestine.
Party members approved the motion at their annual conference in Brighton on October 4 by 1,022 votes to 813, despite opposition from most of the party’s MPs and a number of prominent leaders.
The resolution defined Zionism as “an ethno-nationalist political project,” arguing that it grants one ethnic group privileges at the expense of subjugating another. It also renewed the party’s call to halt British arms sales to Israel and affirmed support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
One state instead of two
The resolution goes beyond declaring a position on Zionism: it adopts a political vision based on creating a single democratic state in historic Palestine in which Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal rights.
That stance puts the party in direct conflict with official British policy and with most major parties, which still declare their commitment to a two-state solution.
The party’s deputy leader, Mothin Ali, who backed the resolution, said the vote must be read in the context of the number of Palestinian casualties and Israel’s war on Gaza, explaining that the motion links Zionism to ethnic cleansing and genocide. Israel rejects these accusations.
A party divided, all the way to the top
The vote exposed a deep split inside the party: four of its five MPs opposed the resolution, while party leader Zack Polanski was absent from the vote because he was busy with a by-election campaign in London.
Despite the controversy, Polanski later said he would not overturn the resolution out of respect for the party members’ vote, while expressing a wish to amend some of its provisions in future, particularly the call for a single state.
Polanski, who is Jewish, stressed that the party would continue to condemn the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, insisting there is no contradiction between defending Palestinians’ rights and protecting the rights of Jews.
But the dispute did not stay within the party’s corridors: local Green groups announced their rejection of the resolution, while former leader Adrian Ramsay urged local councils to distance themselves from it if it threatens their political alliances.
Israeli response: party leader barred from entry
Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the resolution, calling it an “antisemitic text” that it said denies the right of Jews to self-determination, before barring Polanski from entering Israel.
The Israeli ministry also accused the party of lending legitimacy to the destruction of the State of Israel and called on Britain’s other parties to condemn the resolution. The move was also met with rejection from British Jewish organizations, which said the new policy could lead to discrimination against Jewish members of the party and supporters of Zionism.
Supporters of the resolution, for their part, say criticism of Zionism and of Israel’s policies should not be equated with hostility to Jews, and that the aim is to confront a political system they see as built on displacing Palestinians and depriving them of their rights.
Fallout for local councils and the courts
The fallout has reached British local councils, as the Labour Party asked its branches to review power-sharing agreements with the Greens and to end cooperation with groups that refuse to condemn the new policy.
Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission has also received complaints saying the resolution could lead to discrimination against Jews because of their beliefs or their ties to institutions that hold Zionist positions.
The Brighton conference vote has thus turned from an internal decision on Palestine into a political test for the Green Party itself: between a membership pushing for a more outspoken stance against Israel, and leaders who fear the resolution will lead to political isolation, internal divisions and legal confrontations.
