Opinion: Ealing Green Party leader Clare Welsby rejects ‘Zionism is racism’ motion

Ealing Green Party group leader Councillor Clare Welsby has challenged her party’s decision to adopt a motion declaring that “Zionism is racism” at its annual conference on 4 October 2026.

In this opinion piece, Councillor Welsby, who represents Hanwell Broadway ward, explains why she voted against the motion, her concerns about its impact on the party and the Jewish community, and why she intends to challenge the policy from within the Green Party.

“Firstly, to state that I do not, and did not support this motion, and voted against it.

“I believe the motion as agreed to be discriminatory, against the core values of the Green Party and not representative of the Green Party membership as a whole.

“My commitment to all Hanwell Broadway (including West Ealing) and Ealing residents remains the same. As a Green Party councillor, I am free to act in the best interests of the residents I represent, in tune with my conscience and aligned to Green Party values; whilst acknowledging that in this instance this is against a Green Party policy recently voted in by a very small percentage of our membership. One that I will work within Green Party structures to challenge.

“I am extremely saddened that my publicly stated and deep-felt support for Palestine and abhorrence of the genocide in Gaza perpetrated by the Israeli government, and the illegal settlements in the West Bank, have been conflated with this motion.

“I and my fellow Green Party Councillors are engaging with the Jewish community in Ealing and will do so with all residents who may be concerned about the implications of this new policy, to listen to their concerns.

“I was asked at the Green Party Conference – ‘why the Green Party?’ and later what I thought about this controversial motion.

“In answer to the first question I replied because it is the Party with values that made the most sense to me and due to its commitment to people, planet and social justice.

“To the latter I said what we need is unity and to build on our strengths. Leaving the conference, I was shaken by the decision to adopt this motion which has proved to be, as I thought then, very divisive, and alienating and frightening to many.

“We were as a Party winning the argument with the public and through this pressure, with the Labour Government, finally recognising the need to speak up on the actions of the Israeli government – we pushed them to that position.

“The Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called Palestinian suffering in Gaza and the West Bank a “stain on the conscience of the world” at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool, his most blistering attack on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government yet.

“The Green Party was already in tune with international condemnation of the Israeli government. On Friday (9th October) the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 was awarded to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a South African-born former judge with the International Criminal Court who also led the commission that found that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

“This already unequivocal position on Palestine, declaring it to be a genocide, and challenging the increasing settler violence in the occupied West Bank is a Green Party strength.

“This stands alongside being the leading party challenging the status quo over the climate crisis. It is the Green Party demanding urgency and action by the government – to keep fossil fuels in the ground, not to listen to the lobbyists shouting loudest as they are losing the argument – environmentally, economically and for our national and global security. And for the planet where we all live.

“What do we say to our grandchildren if we don’t step up – for the planet, equality and safety for all. This new policy will not directly improve the lives of people living in Gaza and the West Bank and risks setting back the focus in the UK to do something about it.”

‘The Green Party is a party of social and environmental justice, which supports a radical transformation of society for the benefit of all, and for the planet as a whole. We understand that the threats to economic, social and environmental wellbeing are part of the same problem and recognise that solving one of these crises cannot be achieved without solving the others.’ (1st of 10 Green Party core values January 2024)