Britain’s Green Party has triggered a major political and diplomatic controversy after members voted to formally classify Zionism as a form of racism, prompting strong condemnation from
Jewish organisations and the Israeli government.
The motion, adopted at the party’s conference on Sunday by 1,022 votes to 813, describes Zionism as an “ethnonationalist political project” and reiterates the Greens’ demand that the UK government completely end arms exports to Israel.
The decision represents a significant development in the party’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly as it also endorses Palestinian self-determination and calls for the creation of a single democratic state across historic Palestine.
The question of how Zionism should be defined remains deeply contentious. While critics associate it with ethnic nationalism and the displacement of Palestinians, many Jewish communities understand Zionism as the principle of Jewish self-determination and the right of the Jewish people to have a national homeland.
The vote passed despite opposition from several senior Green Party figures. Party leader Zack Polanski, who is campaigning for election to Parliament in the former constituency of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, did not participate in the ballot.
The outcome has provoked an angry response from British Jewish organisations, some of which argue that the party has crossed a significant political and moral boundary.
The Movement for Progressive Judaism accused the Greens of institutionalising antisemitism through the decision, declaring that the party had effectively adopted an antisemitic political position. It also warned that the participation of some Jewish supporters in backing the motion did not eliminate the possibility that its wording could be used to justify discrimination against other Jewish communities.
Mothin Ali, the Green Party’s deputy leader and a supporter of the proposal, defended the decision, arguing that it should be understood against the background of the extensive Palestinian death toll in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Speaking to Sky News, Ali said the motion explicitly characterised Zionism as an ethnonationalist movement associated with ethnic cleansing and genocide. His remarks referred to the conflict that erupted following Hamas’s deadly October 2023 attack on Israel, including the assault on a music festival.
The British government has previously described actions by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank as potentially amounting to ethnic cleansing. However, ministers have maintained that determinations concerning genocide must ultimately be made through the appropriate judicial processes.
Israel strongly rejected the Green Party’s position, accusing the organisation of adopting an ideology that threatens the existence of the Israeli state.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Israeli government said the Greens had embraced both the symbolism and ideology of Hamas, claiming that the party’s position effectively supported the elimination of Israel through armed struggle. It called on other British political parties to publicly condemn the decision.
Meanwhile, Polanski and other senior Green politicians sought to distance their broader political stance from accusations of hostility towards Jewish people. They reiterated their opposition to what they described as serious crimes committed by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while insisting that defending Palestinian rights was entirely compatible with protecting Jewish rights.
The controversy comes at a sensitive moment for British politics, as the Green Party seeks to strengthen its electoral position and expand its influence beyond its traditional support base. With the conflict in the Middle East continuing to divide political parties and communities across the UK, the decision is likely to intensify debate over antisemitism, freedom of political expression and the distinction between criticism of Israel and opposition to Zionism. Photo by Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA, Wikimedia commons.
