{"id":636677,"date":"2026-10-05T03:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/636677\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T03:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:48:14","slug":"israel-bans-uk-green-party-leader-zack-polanski-after-zionism-is-racism-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/636677\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel bans UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski after \u2018Zionism is racism\u2019 vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar on Sunday barred Zack Polanski, leader of Britain\u2019s Green Party, from entering Israel after the party conference adopted a resolution defining Zionism as a form of racism<\/a> and supporting the establishment of a single Palestinian state throughout what it calls \u201chistoric Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polanski, who is Jewish and identifies as anti-Zionist, did not take part in the vote, which passed by 1,022 votes to 813. Before the vote, he had expressed reservations about parts of the motion. Asked whether Israel had a right to exist, however, he declined to answer affirmatively, saying instead that \u201chuman beings have a right to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Zionist Organization representative tears up resolution outside Big Ben: ‘Into the dustbin of history’<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry said the resolution \u201cequates Zionism with racism, grants legitimacy to armed struggle against Israel and calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state \u2018from the river to the sea,\u2019 which means the destruction of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the ministry, \u201cthe resolution constitutes a clearly antisemitic text under the IHRA definition, since it denies the Jewish people\u2019s right to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar has decided, as a first step, to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel,\u201d the ministry said, adding that the move had been coordinated with the relevant Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry issued an unusually sharp response to the resolution adopted at the Green Party conference in Brighton, saying the party \u201ctoday ceased functioning as a political party and became an organization that supports terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Greens have officially adopted the green color of Hamas and its ideological doctrine, which calls for the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n

It added that the resolution \u201cgrants legitimacy to armed struggle, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state from the river to the sea, in practice the destruction of the State of Israel, and equates Zionism with racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no longer a political text,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cIt crosses the boundaries of political discourse and, as long as it remains in place, constitutes a stain on the history of the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministry called on all British political parties, \u201cfirst and foremost the governing Labour Party,\u201d to reject the resolution immediately and unequivocally. Israel\u2019s condemnation was also widely reported in the British media.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d8\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d8\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4<\/p>\n

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish and anti-Zionist <\/p>\n

(Photo: Alishia Abodunde\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The resolution adopted at the Green conference defines Zionism as an \u201cethnonationalist political project\u201d and calls for \u201cone democratic state throughout historic Palestine.\u201d It also reiterates the party\u2019s demand for Britain to end arms trade with Israel.<\/p>\n

The proposal triggered fierce disagreement within the party, with several senior and former Green figures opposing it, including Caroline Lucas, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer.<\/p>\n

Lucas warned before the vote that the resolution could create the impression that Jewish people were not welcome in the party, while Denyer cautioned that it could alienate Jews who strongly oppose the Israeli government and support Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n

Polanski himself had sought changes to parts of the proposal before the vote and did not participate in the ballot.<\/p>\n

Alongside Israel\u2019s diplomatic response, Matan Bar Noy, head of the World Zionist Organization\u2019s delegation to Britain and Europe, released a video filmed outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in which he tore up a copy of the resolution.<\/p>\n

The gesture echoed a famous 1975 speech by Chaim Herzog, then Israel\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations and later president, after the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379 declaring that \u201cZionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.\u201d That resolution was revoked in 1991.<\/p>\n

\u201cZionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the expression of their right to self-determination in their historic homeland,\u201d Bar Noy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty-one years after the UN adopted the shameful resolution equating Zionism with racism, and years after the world withdrew it, there are those trying to bring the same libel back through the rear door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, in the heart of British democracy, our message is clear: We will not accept an attempt to turn the Jewish people\u2019s very right to self-determination into racism. I am tearing up this resolution and throwing it where it belongs, into the dustbin of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05e9\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05e9\u05e8<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar <\/p>\n

(Photo: Rafi Ben Hakon)<\/p>\n

Bar Noy said the decision was especially serious given rising antisemitism in Britain and what he described as an increasingly hostile climate toward Israel and the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt precisely such a time, political parties are expected to show responsibility and fight hatred, not grant it legitimacy through the delegitimization of Zionism,\u201d he said. \u201cCriticism of the Israeli government is legitimate, and we can debate it. Denying the Jewish people\u2019s right to self-determination is something entirely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s ambassador to the European Union, Avi Nir, also attacked the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Zionism is racism, then I am a proud racist,\u201d he said. \u201cIn reality, I am a proud Zionist, while the real racists are the members of the British Green Party who supported this motion and opposed an amendment seeking to protect Jewish party members who pray in \u2018Zionist\u2019 synagogues from being targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nir also invoked Herzog\u2019s 1975 UN speech, quoting his declaration: \u201cI do not come to this rostrum to plead the case of the Jewish people, or to defend the Zionist movement. I come to express our total contempt for this resolution and our refusal to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish people have been the victims of racism and discrimination for thousands of years,\u201d Nir added. \u201cWe know the price of hatred and prejudice better than any other nation on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a cruel irony that those who now accuse us of racism are themselves the perpetrators of discrimination and oppression,\u201d he said. \u201cThis resolution is based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance. It will not change the reality of Israel\u2019s existence, nor will it undermine the determination of the Jewish people to defend their country and their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar on Sunday barred Zack Polanski, leader of Britain\u2019s Green Party, from entering Israel after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-636677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}