Overview
- The Green Party voted at its Brighton conference on October 4 to adopt a motion that calls Zionism an "ethnonationalist political project," demands Palestinian liberation and a single democratic state, and proposes a full arms embargo on Israel.
- Several local Green groups have broken with the national policy, with Cherwell and Lewes councillors publicly rejecting the motion and offering to meet Labour colleagues to discuss how to keep joint administrations working.
- An open letter signed by 60 Green councillors has endorsed the conference motion, leaving the party divided between local representatives who support the policy and those who say it fuels antisemitism concerns.
- Labour’s national leadership has told local Labour groups to insist Green partners disavow the motion by October 22 or face the end of formal coalitions, putting control of councils such as Lewes, Warwick and Sheffield at risk.
- The dispute has already prompted resignations, referrals to equality bodies, and criticism from Jewish organisations that say the motion conflates political ideology with Jewish identity, while supporters argue it targets an ideology and defends Palestinian rights.