UK Greens face European backlash over Zionism-racism policy vote

The Green Party of England and Wales adopted a policy on Sunday that has now isolated it from its European allies. At their conference in Brighton, party members voted to declare Zionism—the movement for a Jewish state—a form of racism equivalent to any other, and to back the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state across historic Palestine with equal rights for all inhabitants. The motion passed with just over 1,000 votes. That sounds like a decisive mandate until you learn the actual number: it represented 0.4 percent of the party's total membership.

The European Green party, which coordinates 47 Green parties across the continent including the English and Welsh branch, responded with alarm. In a formal statement, the alliance said it supported a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine—a position directly at odds with the new policy—and demanded immediate clarity from the English and Welsh leadership about their stance on Israeli self-determination and Jewish protection within the party. Felix Banaszak, co-leader of the German Greens, went further, calling the motion "intolerable and unacceptable" at a press conference. He said it contradicted everything his party stood for and everything the broader European Green movement represented. The German Greens, he emphasized, hold that Israel has a right to exist, and that right cannot be undermined.

The fallout has been swift and personal. Sandy Ruthven, chair of Amnesty International UK's charitable trust and a longtime Green member, resigned over the motion, accusing the party of failing to confront antisemitism. Four of the party's five MPs voted against it. Party leader Zack Polanski issued a statement attempting to thread a needle: he said antisemitism and criticism of Israeli policy are distinct, that blurring the line between them is wrong and itself antisemitic, and that the party's role is to protect both Palestinian rights and Jewish communities in the UK. He also noted that Green pressure has pushed the government to end trade with Israeli settlements.

But the vote has exposed a structural vulnerability in how the Greens make policy. Ellie Chowns, a former co-leader and current MP for North Herefordshire, told the Guardian that the party's governance urgently needs modernizing. When less than one percent of members actually participate in policymaking, she said, the party needs to ask itself hard questions—especially as membership has expanded dramatically. She acknowledged the concerns of European Greens, which she shares, but stressed that more unites the movement than divides it.

The tension reflects deeper disagreements within the Green movement itself. One party source noted that the German Greens support arming Israel, opposed a ceasefire during Israel's military operations in Gaza, backed the suspension of funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and co-sponsored a resolution describing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign as antisemitic. Those positions sit in stark contrast to the English and Welsh party's new stance.

Internally, Greens are divided on how to fix the governance problem. Some argue that giving MPs greater authority over members would betray the party's commitment to grassroots democracy. Others suggest a hybrid model: members could set broad strategic priorities while smaller bodies develop detailed policy, remaining accountable to the membership. One senior Green defended the existing model of direct democracy as fundamental to the party's character.

Daniel Schuster, regional director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's European office, called the decision "absurd" and "itself racist." He noted the timing—days before the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks—and said the policy transforms a movement for Jewish national self-determination into something Jews are expected to apologize for. The question now is whether the English and Welsh Greens can repair their standing with European allies, or whether this vote has fractured a relationship that will take years to mend.