UK Green Party votes to define Zionism as racism at annual conference

Conference vote and policy change

Delegates at the Green Party annual conference in Brighton voted on 4 October 2026 to adopt a formal policy defining Zionism as a form of racism. The motion passed by a margin of 1,022 votes to 813 after a closed debate from which journalists were barred. Under the adopted text, the party resolved to treat Zionism as any other form of racism and endorsed the establishment of a single democratic state across historic Palestine with equal rights for all citizens. The measure, backed by the group Greens for Palestine, also calls for Britain's government to end all arms trade with Israel, demands freedom for Palestinian prisoners, and opposes the ban on Palestine Action. The motion was initially submitted in February 2026 ahead of the online spring conference, where running out of time prevented delegates from voting on it.

Internal division among lawmakers

The vote exposed direct divisions between party activists and senior parliamentary figures. Green Party leader Zack Polanski did not attend the ballot in Brighton, campaigning instead in London for the upcoming byelection in former Prime Minister Keir Starmer's seat of Holborn and St Pancras. Four of the party's five members of Parliament opposed the measure, with former co-leader Adrian Ramsay stating that replacing Israel with a single Palestinian state contradicted Green commitments to self-determination. Deputy leader Mothin Ali supported the motion during a television interview on Sky News, arguing that the policy reflects the high casualty count resulting from the war with Hamas.

The motion defines Zionism quite clearly. It defines it as an ethnonationalist movement. It defines it as ethnic cleansing. It defines it as genocide.

Diplomatic and domestic reactions

The decision drew condemnation from British Jewish organizations, the governing Labour Party, and the Israeli government. A joint letter from the Board of Deputies, the Community Security Trust, and the Jewish Leadership Council warned that the policy threatened the safety and welfare of British Jews. The Movement for Progressive Judaism stated that the Green Party had adopted an antisemitic platform, while Israeli officials accused the Greens of adopting the ideology of Hamas. Bridget Phillipson, chair of the Labour Party and Minister for Women and Equalities, criticised the vote for abandoning a two-state solution. Israeli President Isaac Herzog also responded to the vote.

Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, and it forms the basis for the Jewish people's right to a state and a national home in the Land of Israel.

Potential Equality Act challenges

Following the result, several party members began consulting lawyers regarding legal challenges under equality legislation. The debate turns on whether classifying Zionism as racism breaches the Equality Act 2010, which regulates discrimination within political parties. Proponents inserted language specifying that the policy targets a political ideology that privileges one ethnic group rather than ethnic or religious background, noting that not all Jews are Zionists. Barrister Adam Wagner, who worked on the investigation into antisemitism within the Labour Party, stated that legal challenges would carry substantial weight under existing UK equality legislation.

I think there is a strong risk that the motion as passed contravenes the Equality Act 2010, which applies to political parties, as it will discriminate against and harass people who hold Zionist beliefs and Jewish people more generally.