The resolution also called on the UK government to terminate all arms trade with Israel and reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, alongside a full arms embargo
Britain’s Green Party leader Zack Polanski and lawmakers Hannah Spencer and Sian Berry attend the party’s conference on October 2, 2026. Photo: Carlos Jasso/Reuters
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Britain’s Green Party leader Zack Polanski and lawmakers Hannah Spencer and Sian Berry attend the party’s conference on October 2, 2026. Photo: Carlos Jasso/Reuters
Britain’s Green Party voted at its annual conference to formally define Zionism as a form of racism and an “ethnonationalist political project”, with the motion passing by 1,022 votes to 813.
The resolution also called on the UK government to terminate all arms trade with Israel and reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, alongside a full arms embargo, says Al Jazeera.
The party declared support for the establishment of a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine, as well as the Palestinian right of return and broader Palestinian liberation.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski and other party members issued a joint statement after the vote pledging to oppose “genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the illegal occupation” and criticising the actions of the Netanyahu government.
Co-deputy leader Mothin Ali said the heavy casualty toll from Israel’s war on Gaza and ongoing military actions were the primary background to the conference vote.
Polanski, who is contesting a parliamentary seat in former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s London constituency, did not vote on the resolution.
The Green Party currently holds five seats in Britain’s 650-member parliament and secured 6% of the national vote in the 2024 general election.
Israeli reaction
Israeli officials condemned the resolution.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the policy went “far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate” and called on other UK political parties to condemn it. It said the Green Party had adopted “not only the green of Hamas, but also its ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle”.
The Israeli government said it now considers the Green Party as legitimising terrorism.
President Isaac Herzog called the motion “a disgrace and a shame”, saying the “antisemitic lie that ‘Zionism is racism’ deliberately endanger[s] Jews and Israelis everywhere”.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “it is not Zionism that’s racism, it is the Green Party”.
British Jewish groups
The UK’s Movement for Progressive Judaism said “the Green Party has made antisemitism party policy and become a racist party”, adding that backing from individual Jewish members did not prevent the resolution from enabling discrimination.