‘Hamas-ideology’ – Israel slams UK Greens for declaring ‘Zionism is racism,’ advocating end of Israel
Zionism to be treated ‘as any other form of racism,’ Israel should become Palestine, party says
Israel harshly criticized the Green Party in the United Kingdom on Sunday, after it declared Zionism to be a form of racism and called for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state in a binding declaration.
“Today, the Green Party in Britain ceased to act as a political party and became a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry charged in response.
The party passed the motion by a majority voter of 1,022 to 813. Several senior figures opposed the move, while Jewish party leader Zack Polanski abstained.
In the resolution, the Greens said that Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination in its ancestral homeland, is in fact “an ethnonationalist political project” that should be “treated as any other form of racism.”
While claiming to support the “right to self-determination,” the motion also called “for the establishment of a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine” with “equal rights for all.”
Today, the Green Party in Britain ceased to act as a political party and became a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism. 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 shocking resolution adopted today legitimises armed struggle, calls for a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” - meaning the destruction of the State of Israel - and labels as “racist” the aspiration of the Jewish people for self-determination. This goes far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate. As long as this resolution remains in place, it will be a stain on the history of the United Kingdom. Every political party in Britain, first and foremost the governing Labour Party, must unequivocally reject this twisted resolution.
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 4, 2026
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that with this declaration, “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 shocking resolution adopted today legitimizes armed struggle, calls for a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel – and labels as ‘racist’ the aspiration of the Jewish people for self-determination.”
“This goes far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate. As long as this resolution remains in place, it will be a stain on the history of the United Kingdom. Every political party in Britain, first and foremost the governing Labour Party, must unequivocally reject this twisted resolution,” the ministry demanded.
The Green Party received 6% of the vote in national elections in 2024 and is currently polling around 13-11%. Polanski is competing in a tight race to become the next MP for former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s old seat in Holborn and St Pancras.
50 years on, the words of my father, Chaim Herzog, then Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, ring as true today as they did then. Those who claim the antisemitic lie that “Zionism is racism” deliberately endanger Jews and Israelis everywhere. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the foundation of our right to a state and a national home in the Land of Israel. No motion, in any party or any parliament, will ever change these eternal truths.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) October 4, 2026
Israeli President Isaac Herzog drew attention to the statement's similarity to the infamous UN Resolution 3379, which had determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The resolution was only revoked in 1991.
The president’s father, Chaim Herzog, was Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations at the time. In response, he famously declared, “For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such,” before tearing the resolution in half.
“50 years on, the words of my father… ring as true today as they did then. Those who claim the antisemitic lie that ‘Zionism is racism’ deliberately endanger Jews and Israelis everywhere. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the foundation of our right to a state and a national home in the Land of Israel. No motion, in any party or any parliament, will ever change these eternal truths,” President Herzog asserted.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), further noted that “the most revealing vote concerned [the Greens’] own Jewish members.”
“An amendment would have explicitly protected members attending organisations that identify as Zionist – including synagogues and prayer groups – from being accused of racism simply for that affiliation. It was defeated, by 1,026 votes to 684. That means people could face disciplinary proceedings for attending a synagogue that identifies as Zionist.”
