Green Party Votes to Treat Zionism as Racism

The Green Party of England and Wales voted 1,022 to 813 at its Brighton conference to treat Zionism as a form of racism and support a single democratic Palestinian state. The motion passed despite two failed attempts by party leader Zack Polanski to water down the language. The decision prompted the resignation of Amnesty International chair Sandy Ruthven and was rejected by former leader Caroline Lucas and four of the party's five MPs, who called the move divisive.

Following the vote, more than a dozen Labour MPs, including former Home Office minister Mike Tapp and Labour Friends of Israel chair Mark Sewards, reported the party to Sussex Police and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The complaints seek investigations into potential Equality Act breaches and whether conference chants of "Say it loud, say it clear, Zionists are not welcome here" encouraged hostility toward Jewish people.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis condemned the vote as "poisonous antisemitism," and the Israeli government banned Polanski from entering the country. In contrast, Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer supported the view that Zionism is racist, describing the creation of Israel as an "act of ethnic cleansing."

Zack Polanski has since pledged that no member will be made unwelcome based on their faith or where they worship, asserting that criticism of the Israeli state and antisemitism must remain distinct.