Greens adopt anti-Zionist policy as MPs and Jewish organisations object

Green Party members voted on Sunday to adopt an anti-Zionist policy, with 1,022 supporting the motion and 813 opposing it. The decision at the Brighton conference has divided senior party figures and drawn criticism from Jewish organisations.

What members approved

The party’s statement describes Zionism as an ethnonationalist political project and argues that opposition to it should not be equated with antisemitism. The motion backs a single democratic state across historic Palestine, a full arms embargo against Israel and the boycott movement. These are the party’s positions.

Opposition within and outside the party

ITV reports that four of the party’s five MPs publicly opposed the motion. Jewish representative and security organisations warned about its implications for British Jews; the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council had raised concerns with the leadership.

Leadership response

Zack Polanski did not attend the vote, having left the conference to campaign in London. In a subsequent joint statement, the leadership and MPs rejected discrimination and said Palestinian and Jewish rights were compatible, ITV reports. The party says its commitment to opposing racism remains central.