Greens pass motion calling for IDF to be proscribed as terrorist organisation

The Green Party has passed a motion urging the UK to designate the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) as a terrorist organisation at their October conference in Bournemouth.

Alongside this, the motion called on the party’s elected representatives to push for the UK government and other democratic bodies to “support and resource the international case of genocide against Israel at the International Criminal Court”, to “implement a full arms embargo on Israel” and to “end the training of Israeli soldiers by British forces, and end the spy plane flights over Gaza from the British military base in Cyprus.”

The motion also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Gaza, cease military operations in Palestinian airspace, and ensure the delivery of sustainable aid — potentially via UK shipping.

Additionally, the party advocated for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in Gaza and the West Bank, and called for a formal UK apology for the Balfour Declaration.

Proscribing the IDF would make both membership in and public support for the organisation a criminal offence in the UK.

Later, the motion also said that “The UK should formally apologise to the people of Palestine for the Balfour Declaration” and “there should be a UN peacekeeping force in the West Bank and Gaza to ensure the safety of Palestinian residents.”

Leader Zack Polanski said there was a “moral imperative” to support the motion, adding Israel’s actions in Gaza aren’t just war crimes but genocide, backed by UN reports.

To cheers, he then tied it to climate justice, saying “colonial oppression and environmental ruin” are linked.

Polanski has repeatedly compared himself to other famous Jewish political leaders like Benjamin Disraeli, Michael Howard and Ed Miliband in interviews saying: “I’m one of five Jewish people who have been in leadership positions in British political history in the last 100 years.

“So I feel the responsibility towards what is rising antisemitism and rising Islamophobia in our country.”

“These are two sides of the same coin. When they come for one community they come for the other.”

The Greens conference was also dogged by a row about the involvement of left-wing Israeli group Standing Together and whether they should have been allowed a stall and a fringe meeting at the event.

“I think there is important complexity and nuance in Standing Together in Palestine doing really really important work between Israeli peace activists and Palestinian peace activists which I think as a party and as a movement more generally we should absolutely be amplifying that interfaith solidarity work, intercountry solidarity work, interstate solidarity work,” Polanski told the website Left Foot Forward.

But he added: “I am also sympathetic to the argument that we passed boycott, divestment and sanctions [at conference] last year, and they’re on the boycott, divestment and sanctions list. So I think it’s completely coherent, even with the moral discussion aside, the conference discussion aside to say if we pass a motion, we’re going to follow through with the consequences of the motion.”