The UK Greens are wrong – Zionism is not racism

What the report says

In an Al Jazeera opinion article published on 7 October 2026, Yossi Mekelberg argues that the Green Party of England and Wales was wrong to adopt a conference motion describing Zionism as racist and backing a single Palestinian state across historic Palestine. He says the vote, passed by a small majority at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, reflected misunderstanding of Zionism and risks harming both Palestinian aspirations and the party’s credibility.

Mekelberg defines Zionism as the Jewish people’s movement for national self-determination and traces its origins to European antisemitism, persecution and the desire for Jews to become a nation like others. He acknowledges that Zionism, like other political movements, has included problematic and colonial ideas, and he stresses that Palestinians have suffered greatly through the creation of Israel, the 1948 Nakba, the occupation since 1967, settlement expansion and the war in Gaza after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.

The article also notes that Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence envisioned a Jewish and democratic state and that racism does exist within Israeli society, including discrimination against Palestinian citizens. But Mekelberg contends that these realities do not make Zionism itself inherently racist. He argues that the priority should be ending the occupation and advancing genuine Palestinian statehood, not eliminating Israel as a UN member state. In his view, the Green Party’s position plays into hardline Israeli politics and weakens prospects for a negotiated settlement.