The head of a Green Party Jewish group has said she is considering quitting after members endorsed a motion equating Zionism with racism, opening a rupture within the party days before a make-or-break by-election for leader Zack Polanski.
Vivien Lichtenstein, who chairs Jewish Greens, criticised the decision. The binding motion passed at the Green Party conference by 1,022 votes to 813. On Monday, No10 voiced its condemnation of the move.
Israel bars Polanski
Israel responded by announcing that Mr Polanski, who is Jewish, had been barred from entering the country as a result of Sunday's vote, which he skipped.
The motion declared that Zionism took the form of “historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians”. It called for a single democratic Palestinian state covering all of historic Palestine – which includes Israel, Gaza and the West Bank – and defined Zionism as support for “an ethnonationalist Jewish state”.
Jewish Greens split
Ms Lichtenstein told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don't think it's helpful and it doesn't make any difference whatsoever to Palestinians in Gaza who have suffered devastation, orphans left behind, it doesn't make any difference to Palestinians in the West Bank who are currently suffering, are currently being attacked and killed.”
Asked if she would remain in the party, she said: “I haven’t decided yet. Certainly it’s quite possible that I will leave the party, and I’m giving it a little time, and to talk with colleagues.” She said opinions about the motion were split within the Jewish Greens group.
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said he was “appalled” by the motion, stating: “All decent people will see this for what it is: poisonous antisemitism, a threat to British Jews and to Britain.” The Board of Deputies of British Jews claimed the Greens have become “an extremist party”.
MPs criticise motion
Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson branded the motion shameful. Andy Burnham's official spokesman told reporters on Monday: “I'll point to what Bridget Phillipson said yesterday. She said that this is a shameful vote against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and that this decision is fundamentally wrong. The UK government will continue to support Israel's right to exist and to pursue a two-state solution as the only way for Israelis and Palestinians to live alongside each other in peace and security.” Referring to Israel's decision to bar Mr Polanski from entering, he said: “That's a matter for Israel to speak to.”
The motion – put forward by the Greens for Palestine group – has been criticised by leading Greens, and four of the party's five MPs said they did not support it ahead of the vote. Former leader Caroline Lucas voiced her opposition, while MP Adrian Ramsay, who was co-leader from 2021 to 2025, said: “I am deeply saddened the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion has passed. It doesn't reflect Green principles or my own view.”
All five MPs, plus Mr Polanski and the party's two deputy leaders, Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali, said: “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.”
Lubna Speitan, the lead author of the motion, said: “Over the past three years, Palestinians like myself have watched, alongside the world, a live-streamed genocide in Gaza, now expanding across the West Bank and beyond. The bombardment has been indiscriminate, the civilian death toll shocking, and the destruction of Palestinian society – its foundations, homes, hospitals, universities – systematic. This physical erasure is compounded by a political strategy that seeks to silence dissent by conflating criticism of Israel with ‘antisemitism’, a bitter irony that weaponises Jewish historical trauma – which traces its origins to Europe – against us.” In a video shared on Instagram, she said: “This is the only position to take if you truly oppose oppression, occupation, genocide, apartheid, and indeed, racism.”
The vote came just days before Mr Polanski faces a showdown in a by-election triggered by Keir Starmer's resignation as an MP. He is the Green candidate in Holborn and St Pancras seeking to become the party's sixth MP.
The Mirror has contacted the Green Party for comment on Ms Lichtenstein's remarks. A spokesperson previously said: “This has been a serious and deeply felt debate within our membership. Our members value the ability to bring forward and decide party policy, and conference has now made its decision. The Green Party is an anti-racist party and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Those positions remain central to our approach. So too does our deeply-held commitment to equality, justice and human rights for all, and opposition to racism in all its forms.”
