Israel Bars UK Green Party Leader Over ‘Zionism is Racism’ Resolution

The resolution constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition.

By United with Israel Staff

Israel has barred Green Party of England and Wales leader Zack Polanski from entering the country after his party adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism and backing a single Palestinian state across all of what it calls “historic Palestine.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar ordered the entry ban Sunday evening, hours after Green Party members approved the controversial resolution at their annual conference in Brighton.

“Today, the Green Party in Britain adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism, legitimizing armed struggle against Israel, and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said the resolution constitutes “a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition,” arguing that it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.

“Therefore, as a first step, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has decided this evening to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel,” the ministry said.

The decision was coordinated with the relevant Israeli authorities, according to the ministry.

The motion, titled “Zionism is Racism,” was approved by Green Party members by a vote of 1,022 to 813.

It formally declares the party anti-Zionist and states that Zionism should be “treated as any other form of racism.” It also endorses the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.”

The resolution additionally backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and an arms embargo, while expressing support for what it describes as Palestinian “resistance and liberation.”

Israel argues that the resolution goes far beyond criticism of its government or policies and instead denies the Jewish people the right to national self-determination.

“The Greens have adopted not only the green of Hamas, but also its ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle,” the Foreign Ministry said in an earlier statement Sunday.

The ministry called on political parties across Britain, particularly the governing Labour Party, to unequivocally reject the resolution.

Polanski, who is Jewish, did not participate in Sunday’s vote. He had left the conference to campaign in a parliamentary by-election and had previously sought changes to the motion.

The resolution passed despite significant opposition within the party, including from four of its five members of Parliament.

The Green Party has defended its commitment to Palestinian rights while insisting that it remains opposed to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews.

Following the vote, Polanski and other senior Green figures said there was “no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people,” and pledged that discrimination and harassment would not be tolerated.

Israel rejected that distinction, saying the resolution itself is antisemitic under the IHRA definition because it denies Jewish self-determination.

Sa’ar subsequently ordered Polanski barred from entering Israel.