Greens adopt policy treating Zionism as racism

[Twiglets1]

The Greens have formally adopted a policy which equates Zionism with racism, a move that will dismay the bulk of the party’s MPs and has alarmed some Jewish members.

In a vote on Sunday at the party’s annual conference in Brighton about whether to back a motion which calls for Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, to be “treated as any other form of racism”, it passed by 1,022 votes to 813.

The motion, which is now formal policy for the Greens in England and Wales, also calls for a single Palestinian state in place of Israel “with equal rights for all”.

Four of the party’s five MPs have condemned the motion, as did Caroline Lucas, the former leader who was the Greens’ first MP.

Adrian Ramsay, who co-led the Greens before Polanski, said in a statement he would vote against it, as it set out what sort of Palestinian state should exist without taking into account the self-determination of Israelis and Palestinians.

Siân Berry, another of the MPs, made the same point.

Carla Denyer, the Bristol Central MP who was co-leader with Ramsay, said the wording “risks alienating a significant proportion of Jewish people, including those who vehemently disagree with the Israeli government”.

Another Green MP, Ellie Chowns, said the motion “risks fuelling division, and risks undermining the party’s ability to advocate effectively for justice and peace”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/04/green-party-votes-adopt-policy-zionism-racism

Do facts and history really matter to these people if the main driver is a simple hatred of Jews?

True, but I’ve also seen plenty of well-meaning middle-aged people marching along with the ‘Free Palestine, no questions asked’ crowd.

Oh yes, indeed. I was teaching about the Roman Empire to yr7 and had the map on the whiteboard to show where there were uprisings. One of course was Judea. One boy told me that was impossible because there were no Jews there before 1948.
So a yr7 boy feels emboldened to tell his History teacher, in the lesson, that she is teaching lies.

Very true. Some older people seem to have a soft spot for the proscribed groups as well.

Those older people who proudly hold up Palestine Action Group signs, knowing the group has been proscribed as terrorists. The mentality is on another level. Who said wisdom comes with age.

Exactly

They justify their hate by denying our very existence other than as a religion.

A lot of far left are atheists that don't agree with religion in general so that ticks the box in their head of not separating Jews from others. Therefore not racism to them.

Then there are the Christian ones that try to put Jews in a Christian shaped box when we don't fit their own understanding of things that makes us bad Jews that are not following the Bible so they feel allowed to condemn us. They refuse to understand Jews as anything other than a religious group that is not in line with their own beliefs so Jew hate is valid and not racism to them.

It’s awful that you are made to feel this way 💔💐

I fond a lot of self confessed aethists on MN are capable of some abhorrent views, while slating religion.

They like to ignore that part of history

How very dare you mention it at all

ShameLaboiur d o not do the dsame and stop supporting the HAMAS scum

Yet they get defended because they're older. How many times have we seen on MN the criticism of the police "arresting pensioners" ? It's nonsense.

Indeed! As if saying "I'm an atheist" exonerates them.

Yes I can't see how they possibly think Hamas are going to run a democracy! If they wanted to do that they could have held elections at any time over the last 20 years, stopped stealing aid for themselves and stopped killing Palestinians that didn't do what they said. I think they literally couldn't care less. This won't even come to pass. It will make no difference to anything internationally, will not save one Gazan life, has probably lost support for the Greens. Literally all it has done is upset and intimidate Jews in general and Jews within the Green Party in particular. So job done I suppose for the anti semites.

I studied Europe and the Middle East several decades ago. I’ve read the Balfour declaration. I know a bit about Yasser Arafat and the PLO , the Iranian Revolution and Transjordan, the Nakba and First and Second Intifadas, Camp David and the Oslo accords

I’ve followed what’s happening in the ME for over 30 years and certainly would not consider myself an expert or even describe myself as well-informed.

However, I did object to a young family member who had been to two PalSoc meetings at University trying to educate me on Gaza and Israel.

I know I thought I had an educated world view as a student of modern, political history but I hope I was never that arrogant.

The issue I have with this is we already know the gloating about the police not doing anything or charges not being made that will happen next

They will see this as a vindication of their behaviour and literally state that the police said it wasn't antisemitic or the crown prosecution didn't.

Unfortunately actions like reporting to the police in a public way in these cases is I believe a massive mistake. It simply plays into their grubby little hands.

They really haven't been hiding. They have been testing how far the boundaries of free speech & freedom of association can stretch before they break, (or societal cohesion does).
Turns out, it's proportional to motivation, PR & lawfare.
Democracy and the rule of law are benign sounding tools unless the pointy end is aiming at you.

I don't understand why they hate religion yet are in thrall to the most extreme form of Islam.

I think a lot of people have absolutely no idea.

The BCC isn't exactly impartial, and nor are several mainstream newspapers. If you read the odd article, and get your news off SM, and don't make a deliberate effort to seek out more balanced outlets, or sometimes read Israeli and Jewish sources, you can end up with a very strange view of the world.

Things I have heard recently:

1. 'Israel is building settlements in Gaza'. Er no, Israel pulled out of Gaza 20 years ago, and look where that got them.
2. 'I don't understand why Israel is bombing Iran!' Um, you know who backs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis... Did you know about Hezbollah and the Houthis... rockets into Israel... every house or block of flats having a mamad... you didn't? The impact of Hezbollah on Lebanon... Do you remember Majdal Shams? You don't?

Both of these from a young person who is normally intellectually curious, but who has gone to a university soaked in omnicause BS. True intellectual curiosity, thinking outside the approved box, doesn't seem to be encouraged now in the way it was when I was 20.

I can remember, 40-odd years ago when I was young, reading the Independent and thinking, but this is wrong... this is only telling half the story... what about...? There has been a long, slow, undermining of support for Israel by individuals who prefer to see the West as always in the wrong. Israel hasn't always helped itself in the PR battle, but when you take a step back and understand that you're dealing with a country full of people who descend from Holocaust survivors and families who were kicked out of countries where they had lived for millennia (and in which they had been second class citizens), it all makes a lot more sense.

What did people think ‘From the river to the sea’ meant? There was lots of ‘oh they just want peace’ well that’s a bit hard to defend now it is clear that they mean ‘no Israel’.

As for what will happen to the Jews in this ‘democratic Palestine’, I’m sure some will blather on about communities living side by side and Hamas won’t exist anymore because their only problem was Israel, but the Houthis have been kind enough to spell that out clearly too in their motto ‘Death to Israel and a curse upon Jews’.

And the pro-Palestinians can’t distance themselves from the Houthis either, given the chants of ‘Yemen Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around’ on the streets of London.

All these positions which people are now being shocked at as ‘extremist’ have been publicly on display for years. People have just chosen to ignore.

@Bzr, I hope your daughter is feeling a bit happier today.

You could be right. It’s good that they are reporting it but maybe less publicly would have been better until we know the outcome.

The mosque in Jerusalem being built on top of the temple really is inexplicable in that case.

With respect, atheists don’t necessarily hate religion.

Speaking for myself as an atheist, I don’t hate any religion. Though I do hate extremists who use religion as an excuse for hate.

All these positions which people are now being shocked at as ‘extremist’ have been publicly on display for years. People have just chosen to ignore.
Yep. My DH is astounded by this vote.
He has absolutely not been paying attention to what is going on in the UK - too much focus on what a disaster Trump is.

And why on earth should your kids have to hide their heritage?
This makes me so angry.

Same madness is happening in Berlin right now (I lived there for a while, so have been following the news).

There is a whole borough the size of a large town where Jewish parents are advised against sending their kids to local schools, due to documented instances of antisemitic bullying and intimidation on playgrounds.

For the same borough, Berlin Police Chief Barbara Slowik explicitly issued a public warning advising Jewish people and openly gay individuals to caution and circumstantial awareness.

How the hell did we get to this?