Pro-Israel advocates hound Green Party members over 'Zionism is Racism' motion

Pro-Israel advocates hound Green Party members over 'Zionism is Racism' motion

Submitted by Imran Mulla on Sat, 10/03/2026 - 17:04 Dozens of Israel supporters could be seen and heard hurling abuse at Green Party members outside the party's conference in Brighton Supporters of Israel hurl abuse at Green Party members outside the Green Party conference in Brighton on 3 October 2026 (Imran Mulla/MEE) Off

Lubna Speitan has found herself at the centre of a major controversy engulfing the UK's Green Party.

The British-Palestinian is the author of a motion that Green Party members are expected to vote on Sunday, which calls for Zionism to be declared a form of racism.

The motion has become the focus of national media attention - and a highly contentious topic at the conference itself.

A fierce protest erupted on the narrow street outside the Green Party conference venue in Brighton on Saturday, with dozens of pro-Israel demonstrators shouting at Green Party members as they entered the conference.

The protesters could be heard chanting: "Terrorist supporters off our streets" as others sang "there's no Palestine, there is no Palestine."

Some held up signs saying: "Stand up to racist Greens," "Anti Zionism = terrorism" and "More trees less Hamas."

Meanwhile, numerous others waved Israeli flags.

A few waved a Union Jack and one man, who said he was an Indian Jew, waved a combined Israeli and Indian flag.

"There'll always be opposition," Speitan told Middle East Eye in response to the protest. "[But] we have to stand strong and firm and steadfast in the face of injustice. We should confront all forms of racism, discrimination, genocide and the Holocaust.

"We've made explicitly clear in the motion that not all Jews are Zionist and not all Zionists are Jewish."

Pro-Israel crowd attack Polanski and Islam

An Iranian woman protesting outside the conference characterised the Greens as an alliance of leftists and Islamists.

"I've seen what's happened in Iran with the radical Islamists, and I'm terrified it will happen to the UK," she told MEE.

Another protester, a middle-aged white man, claimed the Green Party was antisemitic.

He described Green Party leader Zack Polanski as a "self-hating Jew," a derogatory term often used to disparage Jewish critics of the Israeli government.

"I'm not a Jew, I'm a Christian," he added. "I'm a Christian. We did the Holocaust." Now, he said, Jewish people were being persecuted "by Islam."

A woman who said she was French danced enthusiastically and described the Green Party as supporters of Hamas.

"Have you seen what happened in France with the Islamists and the left?" she said. "I don't want that to happen here."

A group of counter-protesters, most of them Green Party members, held their own demonstration nearby.

The two sides were separated by police officers, and both were peaceful with neither side seriously confronting the other.

Some of the counter-protests waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-genocide slogans, while a group could be seen holding a banner reading "Jews against Zionism."

A young counter-protester named Ori, who said he was Jewish, told MEE: "We're here to support the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion. I think it will be a good thing for there to be a mainstream political party in parliament that says that says Zionism is racism, and that can hopefully lead to sanctions against Israel."

Ori labelled the protesters as "pathetic", adding that he disagreed with the idea that if the motion passed it could make some Jewish members of the party feel unwelcome.

"Often oppressors see themselves as victims of the people they are oppressing. Zionists think they are victims of the Palestinian liberation struggle. It's completely untrue."

'Often oppressors see themselves as victims'

Party members are gearing up to vote on an unprecedented motion to declare Zionism a form of racism on Sunday.

If the motion passes, it will become official policy and the Greens will become the first major party in the country to recognise Zionism as racism.

The motion has been endorsed by prominent Holocaust survivor and activist Stephen Kapos, who said he believed that "Zionism both as an ideology and practice is harmful and has no legitimacy and must be rejected."

However, Caroline Lucas, a former leader of the party, denounced the motion as divisive on Friday, saying: she had "serious concerns" over what it could mean for inclusivity within the party.

"There is no single definition of Zionism, and irrespective of the intentions of the people who put that motion forward, I think there is a real risk that it’ll be divisive and could be seen as a sign that Jewish people aren’t welcome in the party," she said.

Prior to the start of the conference, it was widely reported that Jewish members of the Green Party who belong to synagogues that identified as Zionist could face internal disciplinary procedures.

However, Speitan, the lead author of the motion, rubbished those claims saying the motion is an "E-Motion," meaning it concerns external matters and has no bearing on internal processes. 

But the motion, which calls for a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for ethnic and religious groups, is already drawing heavy criticism from within the party itself.

Polanski, who is Jewish himself, said last month the motion needed to be amended to say "very clearly and explicitly that this motion safeguards Jewish people.

"And what it means by that is if someone stands against the occupation, stands against apartheid, stands against the genocide, but happens to be a member of a synagogue that calls itself a Zionist synagogue, they should not be treated any differently within the Green Party."

Asked about this, however, Speitan said she believed the amendment would "undermine" the motion.

"We shouldn't need as Palestinians to have a disclaimer before we speak for the liberation of our people every time that we're not antisemites, or to legitimise our cause by saying it's not an attack against Jews, which indeed it’s not.

"My grandfather lived next to his Jewish neighbor in Palestine, playing cards every morning and never had a problem."

'It's a racist ideology'

Kieran Andrieu, a British Palestinian political economist and Green Party member, told MEE he believed the motion was important because Zionism was responsible for the dehumanisation of Palestinians.

Exclusive: Zack Polanski says UK should defy Israel on fate of British Consulate in East Jerusalem Read More »

"If you acknowledge that what has been done to the Palestinians over the past 100 years or more is a long process of colonisation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide, and you have to ask yourself, how can that happen?

"It was underpinned by an ideology, Zionism. It's a racist ideology that dehumanises Palestinians."

Hamza Egal, the chair of a group within the party, Global Majority Greens, agreed and told MEE he was also backing the motion.

"It's only the Green Party that's ever come up and said: 'let's give the Palestinians their voice, let them speak for themselves'. And the motion that they created is what we've gone with as global majority Greens.

"We've supported the motion because it's come from our Palestinian members."

UK Politics Brighton, United Kingdom News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0