UK Green Party Declares Zionism Racist, Sides with Extremism, Draws Condemnation
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The Green Party voted to label Zionism as racist, aligning itself with radical anti-Israel positions and drawing sharp criticism from British Jewish groups and Israel, which now accuses the party of legitimizing terrorism.
The Green Party of Britain voted on Sunday to describe Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination, as an ethnonationalist political project and a form of racism. The motion, which narrowly passed by a margin of 1,022 to 813, also reaffirmed the party’s support for Palestinian self-determination and called for a single democratic state across historic Palestine—a stance that effectively denies Israel’s right to exist. The party’s statement further demanded that the UK Labour government end all arms trade with Israel, a key Western ally in the Middle East.
Party leader Zack Polanski, who is contesting a parliamentary seat in London, abstained from the vote, perhaps recognizing the controversial and divisive nature of the motion. Deputy leader Mothin Ali justified the decision by citing the Palestinian death toll in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, and went so far as to define Zionism as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide,” echoing extremist rhetoric.
British Jewish organisations were outraged by the resolution. The Movement for Progressive Judaism said the Green Party had made antisemitism part of its official policy and had become a racist party, highlighting the dangerous conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
Israel’s foreign minister responded forcefully, announcing that Polanski would be barred from entering Israel and stating the motion “constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.” The Israeli government also called on other UK parties to denounce the Green Party’s stance, accusing it of adopting Hamas’s ideology and seeking the elimination of the Israeli state through armed struggle.
Green Party officials, undeterred, insisted they would continue to criticize what they called “heinous crimes” by the Netanyahu government and claimed that supporting Palestinian rights does not conflict with supporting Jewish rights. The party’s radical position has placed it at odds with the mainstream and aligned it with extremist elements seeking to delegitimize Israel.