Green Members Force 'Zionism Is Racism' Debate Before Brighton Conference
Members of the Green Party in England and Wales have pressed leader Zack Polanski to state his position on a proposed policy declaring "Zionism is racism" after it came top of a members' vote of motions for debate at the party conference in Brighton at the start of October. The Guardian The party makes policy by member votes at conferences. Polanski had not spoken publicly about the motion as of 17 September 2026.
The text calls for "a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, equal rights for all, and the right of return for Palestinians and their descendants". It asserts the Palestinian people have the full right to "resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation, domination and subjugation" within international law. It states that if passed, Zionism "will be treated as any other form of racism" by the Green Party.
Two amendments to tone down the motion have been tabled. The motion itself has not been adopted. It is listed for debate and vote under conference sovereignty procedures, where passage would make it party policy.
The proposal is not new to the party's order paper. A motion with the same title was submitted to the spring conference but was never debated due to time constraints. That history was foreshadowed in June, when procedural and technical difficulties delayed consideration but left open a return at the autumn conference. The conference motion titled 'Zionism is Racism' is designated Motion A105. Jewish Chronicle via JPost Motion A105 recognises Zionism's "continued harm to Palestinians".
Internal alignment is already visible. Greens for Palestine, a campaign group involving Green Party members, urged activists to back the 'Zionism is racism' motion. The Times The Jewish Greens urged members to vote against the motion titled 'Zionism is Racism' at the Spring 2026 conference. Jewish Greens The Jewish Greens later published an interim briefing on the motion on 10 August 2026. The divide is procedural as well as substantive. One side treats conference as the legitimate venue for a single-state formula. The other treats the language as exclusionary and unworkable as disciplinary policy.
The electoral calendar sharpens the dilemma. The autumn conference takes place a week before voting in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. Polanski is the Green candidate in that contest, seeking to take Keir Starmer's former seat from Labour. Membership tripled under Polanski. He previously called for 'nuance' when discussing antisemitism.
Looking at what this means for party management, the structure leaves Polanski little room for manoeuvre. Conference sovereignty gives members the final word on policy. Leadership direction does not override a passed motion. Silence preserves freedom before debate but invites pressure from both supporters and critics. A public position could shape amendment bargaining in Brighton. It could also define how a disciplinary clause treating Zionism as racism would be applied to candidates, councillors and staff if adopted. For practitioners, the variables to watch are narrow. Whether the motion is taken in full or as amended. Whether leadership whipping, formal or informal, emerges before the vote. And whether the Brighton decision travels into the final week in Holborn and St Pancras as policy liability, mobilising asset, or contained internal compromise.
