Former Labour MP ‘pleased’ Greens believe Israel’s army is terror organisation after joining party

A former Labour politician who has left to join the Greens has said he is “pleased” the Zack Polanski-led party believes the Israeli army  should be considered to be a terrorist organisation.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle – who was suspended by Labour as an MP ahead of the last election over what he called a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against – also told a press conference announcing his move to the Greens that “many Jewish people in this country are very critical of Zionism, and it should not be treated as a fait accompli”.

Seated next to leader Polanski, the 39-year-old said: “I’m pleased that the Green Party has said that the IDF should be considered a terrorist organisation.

“I think it is exactly the right kind of line that we should be taking. And clearly, anyone who is active in those actions of the IDF, most recently or in command, must face justice in international courts. ”

The former Brighton Kemptown MP, who was criticised by the Board of Deputies in 2019 for hosting a Stop The War Coalition meeting in parliament to which a representative of the Yemeni Houthi group, Ahmed Alshami, was invited, also used his latest media appearance to offer his view of the situation in the Middle East, and on Israel and Palestine.

“When this is over, there will be a reckoning,” he claimed of the war in Gaza.  “And I think it’s very clear that an ethnocentric, militarised state cannot continue to exist in the current way it is, and what we need is a democratic state for all people in that region in a form that the people want in that area.

“It’s not for us to say whether it should be. One takes two states, whatever state, but the people in that area must democratically decide how that is.

“And I think that those are the important principles. We call out the genocide. We call out the ongoing occupation exhausted for almost 75 years.  We say there is no excuse for it anymore.

“And we say, going forward, there must be a reckoning in all those people who supported that kind of thing. And I’m willing, I’m determined to, in all my activities, to continue to say that. ”

Russell-Moyle added: “You will know that I’ve been criticised many times for saying that probably prematurely, and I have had many gotchas from different papers where I have criticised, or I have said that many Jewish people in this country are very critical of Zionism, and it should not be treated as a fait accompli.

“And I think that’s where the public’s eyes have opened up to that now.”

Labour had received a complaint about his behaviour eight years prior, before he was an MP, which led to Russell-Moyle’s suspension from the party in May last year.

But in January 2025, it was announced, the investigation had concluded the month before and found “insufficient evidence to proceed”, with the complainant then withdrawing the allegation and his full membership restored.

In further controversies in April 2020, Russell-Moyle was reported to have shared a link to an unredacted version of a Labour Party dossier on the handling of antisemitism, which contained the names and details of whistle-blowers.

In January 2023, Russell-Moyle reacted angrily to a speech by Tory MP Miriam Cates in a debate on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, branding her as “transphobic” and saying she “should be ashamed”.

He later apologised to Dame Rosie Winterton and to Cates for the tone of his response. Rosie Duffield accused Russell-Moyle of crossing the floor at the end of the debate to sit near to Cates.

He has now cited his disillusion with the Labour Party’s direction and its leadership, stating that they “left behind millions” who wanted “hope… [and] change in their lives.”