“It is not unusual for a small‑party conference to spark sharp international attention,” said a commentator. “Yet after Israel’s foreign ministry announced that its leader Zack Polanski would be barred from entering the United Kingdom, the Green Party of England and Wales found itself under unprecedented scrutiny.”
Israel’s foreign ministry declared that Polanski’s entry had to be prohibited because the party’s motion described Zionism—as the belief in a Jewish homeland—as racism.
The Green Party’s resolution, adopted on Sunday, defines Zionism as an ideology advocating the creation of an ethnonationalist Jewish state and advocates for instead a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine.”
While the Israel Defense Forces’ actions in Gaza have underpinned the party’s electoral success, the controversy may reveal deeper tensions within Green politics.
A key challenge for the Greens lies in reconciling their reputation for internal democracy with the situation where prominent elected members find themselves held to policies they originally supported.
Party leader Zack Polanski, who is not an MP, sought amendments to the motion but the proposal was rejected, leaving him outside public deliberations.
Among the few members who opposed the motion, four of the Greens’ five MPs voiced strong dissent.
MP Adrian Ramsay, former Green co‑leader until September last year and current member for Waveney Valley, was one of the most outspoken opponents.
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