Monday, October 05, 2026
Greens split over ‘Zionism is racism’ policy
They add that the Holborn and St Pancras by-election on Thursday, triggered by Keir Starmer's unexpected resignation as an MP, could well prove to be reckning for the Green Party leader if he doesn't perform as well as expected. And now a vote at their party conference looks like it has added to their troubles.
The Mirror tells us that the Green Party has voted to adopt a policy defining Zionism as racist in a controversial move that has dismayed the party's MPs.
They say that members have backed a motion by 1,022 votes to 813, which states that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”:
It supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”. Members voted down attempts to add a clause to make clear the motion should not be used to “pressure, proscribe or discipline” party members for their affiliation to synagogues or other Jewish groups that describe themselves as Zionist.
The move plunged the Greens into civil war, as the party leadership rushed to distance themselves from it. Party leader Zack Polanski - who skipped the vote to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election - and his deputies signed a statement saying "there is no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people". It was also signed by the party's five MPs.
The statement said: "As Green Party leaders and MPs, we will always uphold universal human rights. We will never tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment. We will continue to stand in opposition to genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the illegal occupation.
"We will continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government. And we will continue to work to ensure that the Green Party is an anti-racist party in every way. We know there is no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people."
The move sparked a fierce backlash, with two senior Rabbis said the motion was “anti-semitic in its formulation and intention”. Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy said: “By adopting it, the Green Party has made anti-semitism party policy and become a racist party.”
Senior leaders from the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council had written to Green leaders ahead of the conference to warn about the motion.
Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said: "I know the profound hurt and alarm the Green Party motion will be causing to many in the Jewish community. Labour learned the hard way about addressing extremism in its ranks and we took action to rip the antisemitism from our party by the roots.
"I am speaking to friends who are members of the community to let them know they needn't be frightened, that this is an unacceptable position and that there will always be those in power who will continue to tackle antisemitism head on."
The fact that the amendment on safeguarding Jews failed to pass 684 - 1026 speaks volumes. The Greens are in danger of repeating the mistakes of Corbyn's Labour Party, but going further by isolating themselves through their rejection of a two-state solution favoured by most of the rest of the world.
