The UK’s Green Party failed on Saturday to pass a motion to change party policy to equate Zionism with racism at its spring conference, after internal party disputes over the resolution and a series of technical setbacks led the session to be adjourned without a vote.
The virtual conference, held on Zoom, was attended by around 1,000 people, according to British media, and attendance was limited to party members only.
As part of the proceedings, the party, led by Jewish non-Zionist Zack Polanski, had been expected to vote on a “Zionism is Racism” motion that called for the abolishment of the Jewish state of Israel and the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.”
It also backed the right of the Palestinian people to “resistance and liberation from Israeli occupation, domination and subjugation,” asserting that “the struggle to achieve that liberation by all available means under international law is legitimate.”
The motion would also have formally disavowed the definition of antisemitism as set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), claiming that it has been “weaponized to silence legitimate criticism of the state of Israel.”
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Although a vote on the motion had been expected early in Saturday’s proceedings, following a successful push by its backers to fast-track the process, it was repeatedly delayed by several no-confidence motions against the party chair, each of which required a separate debate, The Telegraph reported.
Green Party supporters in Levenshulme in northwest England, February 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
A lengthy fight over the policy itself led to additional delays, after opponents of the measure tried unsuccessfully to rule it as out of order, the newspaper said, by arguing that it contradicted the Green Party’s existing policy, which calls for a two-state solution.
Delays were then further compounded by technical malfunctions, the newspaper said, as the Zoom platform hosting the conference was unable to cope with the volume of participants and crashed repeatedly, further pushing off the vote.
Ultimately, despite the conference being extended by an additional 15 minutes, the clock ran out before the “Zionism is Racism” motion could be put to a vote.
The motion will not be taken off the table altogether, though, and will be voted on at a later date.
The motion has been the subject of discourse within the party, with Polanski himself seemingly hesitant to endorse it.
Speaking to Times Radio last month, Polanski suggested he would endorse the motion only if it was linked to the actions of the current Israeli government and the actions taken by Israel in Gaza over the course of its two-year war with Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“I can give you some different definitions of Zionism, and we can talk about whether they’re racist or not,” he said at the time. “If we’re talking about the definition that this Israeli government is clearly perpetrating through a genocide in Gaza, then yes, absolutely. That’s racist.”
He told the radio station that he had not yet made up his mind as to how he would vote on the motion, saying he would “wait to hear the debate” before deciding.
He stated, however, that if the party’s agreed-upon definition of Zionism was “what is happening right now by the Israeli government,” he would vote in favor.
The Green Party’s Hannah Spencer, right, celebrates with party leader Zack Polanski at a volunteer event after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election, Manchester, England, February 27, 2026. (AP/Jon Super)
According to sources quoted by Jewish News, Polanski and other party officials had hoped the motion and the debate around Israel and Palestine would not dominate the party’s agenda at the conference, worrying it could harm the Green Party’s chances at local elections later this year.
The Greens’ environmentalist and hard-left platform includes a number of anti-Israel policies, including supporting a complete arms embargo on Israel, an end to intelligence sharing with Jerusalem and a lifting of the government ban on the Palestine Action group, which was proscribed after members stormed a military base. That ban was recently struck down in court, although an appeal has been filed.
At its annual conference last September, the Greens reaffirmed their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, passed a motion branding Israel an “apartheid state” and accused it of perpetrating a “genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel firmly denies.
Polanski has also accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, called for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a warrant from the International Criminal Court, and condemned Israel’s “horrendous and illegal” airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and ballistic missile program during the June 2025 war.
Polanski grew up in a home he described as “very Zionist,” but has said that Israel has since “changed,” and that he is now “certainly not a Zionist.”
On Friday, The Telegraph reported that messages sent in a Green Party activists group on WhatsApp had described Jewish people as “an abomination to this planet,” and suggested that a recent arson attack targeting ambulances owned by a Jewish organization had been a “false flag” operation.
According to the news outlet, the second day of the Green Party spring conference on Sunday will include a session on antisemitism.
Protesters holding placards and waving flags as they take part in a march against the far right, organized by the Together Alliance, in central London on March 28, 2026. (Henry Nicholls/AFP)
This comes after four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in north London were set ablaze outside a synagogue in an antisemitic hate crime last week.
It was the latest incident targeting the Jewish community in the UK, which has experienced soaring rates of antisemitism in the wake of October 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
In 2025, the British Jewish charity Community Security Trust recorded 3,700 incidents of antisemitism, up from 1,662 in 2022.
On October 2, 2025, during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, an attack on a synagogue in Manchester killed two and seriously injured three.
In February, two men were jailed for plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England.
And two Iranian nationals appeared in a court in London last week, accused of spying on behalf of Tehran on multiple Jewish community sites, including one containing an elementary school.