Israel Bars UK Green Party Leader Over Anti-Zionist Resolution

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced Sunday that Zak Polanski, the leader of the UK Green Party, will be denied entry into Israel. The decision follows a resolution adopted by the Green Party that labels Zionism as racism, legitimizes armed struggle against Israel, and calls for a Palestinian state from the river to the sea. Polanski, who is Jewish, leads the party that passed the resolution at its annual conference in Brighton with 56% of the vote. The approved text defines Zionism as a political ideology advocating for a Jewish state based on ethnic nationalism, which involves the exclusion or control of the non-Jewish population. It also calls for a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital, granting equal rights to all inhabitants, including Jews. The Foreign Ministry condemned the resolution as a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, stating it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination and implies the destruction of Israel. Saar's decision was coordinated with relevant authorities. Polanski himself did not vote on the resolution. When asked about Israel's right to exist, he responded that all people, Israelis and Palestinians alike, have a right to exist. The resolution has caused internal dissent within the Green Party, with opponents warning it could alienate Jewish members.