Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party (YP) and Zack Polanski’s Green Party appear to be making moves towards rehabilitating Zionism. Instead of opposing its colonialist ideology, they seem more inclined to support it.
A recent landmark motion which declared Zionism as a form of racism was railroaded by pro-Israel members at the Green Party’s spring conference. The blatant filibustering on display has devastated the huge proportion of the Green’s membership who rightfully demand an anti-Zionist stance.
However, disappointment for progressives does not end there. Corbyn’s YP appear to have taken heed of the subsequent fallout. Furthermore, an elected member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) for Wales has suggested the new party entirely abandon its anti-Zionist pledge.
Once again, leaders appear to be choosing to give in to pressure rather than stand firm in recognition of Palestinians inherent and inalienable right to their own sovereign territory. After all, no ideology should afford anyone the right to dispossess, disavow, or displace another. Whether peaceful or violent, Zionism is an existential threat to Palestinians and frankly, anyone who stands in their way.
Host of Palestine Declassified Chris Williamson confronted Polanski’s “catastrophic error” on X:
I’ve been very complimentary about @ZackPolanski’s stance on the economy, and I still believe an electoral agreement necessary for the next election. But he’s making a catastrophic error in trying to appease Zionists. Jeremy Corbyn made that mistake, yet they still destroyed him.… https://t.co/D2oscA3aAS
— Chris Williamson (@DerbyChrisW) April 2, 2026
Destroying Polanski’s suggestion that this is a ‘nuanced debate’, Williamson wrote:
There is nothing “nuanced” about Zionism, Zack and it’s not “complicated” either. Zionism is a Jewish supremacist ideology. This turbocharged racism normalises apartheid and genocide. It must be confronted and defeated. You cannot dodge this question, Zack. The Zionists are coming for you no matter what you do.
So your only realistic option is to fight them. If you don’t, then you’ve already lost.
We’ve been here before
The 2019 antisemitism crisis in Corbyn’s Labour left socialists across the country demoralised and politically homeless, as the party purged Jewish anti-Zionist members over the contentious claim that their anti-Zionist beliefs were antisemitic.
Polanski himself has spoken about lessons he learned from his own poor behaviour at the time, in which he unquestioningly jumped on the antisemitism bandwagon pushed by the right-wing, pro-Israel, billionaire-owned media.
Yet when push comes to shove, both leaders seem unable to stand up against Zionism. Polanski, in particular, goes to great lengths to sanitise the ideology. He portrays it as though pro-Palestinian activists object only to its violent methods rather than its core principles.
As already mentioned, he isn’t alone in his apparent wilful ignorance. Corbyn, despite the destructive impact of Zionists within Labour, is now being asked by another elected official in Wales, Maria Donnellan, to abandon YP’s anti-Zionist pledge. Time will tell if Corbyn will resist but history suggests that concessions are his default response.
In protest at what they see as a move toward capitulation, members are reminding their leaders that they must confront Zionism at its roots.
Matthew Walker shared Donnellan’s messages following a leak from the YP WhatsApp group:
Shocking leaked Whatsapp messages show Your Party CEC member Maria Donnellan (@Maria4CEC4Cymru) arguing that YP shouldn’t adopt an anti-zionist policy.
She describes zionism as “Jewish peoples movement for self-determination in their historic homeland.”
This is liberal zionism pic.twitter.com/C500Jji99g
— Matthew Walker (@matthewjswalker) March 29, 2026
It’s funny how Palestinians never seem to have an inalienable right to their own homeland, as is afforded to Zionists. This comes regardless of the fact that Palestinians have lived on that land—their land—for generations. Ignoring the mass murder, dispossession, terrorism and oppression they have lived under for nearly 80 years, it seems some seek to rehabilitate ‘softer’ versions of this settler-colonialist ideology.
Cambridge YP’s divisive Kika even deplorably sought to argue that CEC members should be ‘exempt from scrutiny’:
More disgusting zionism from the Your Party whatsapp group today in response to the member petition to recall @Maria4CEC4Cymru from the CEC.
In defense of Maria, Kika claims that jewish people have a right to self-determination on stolen Palestinian land because of the holocaust https://t.co/999UJHCr0b pic.twitter.com/eXhSpEM5Qn
— Matthew Walker (@matthewjswalker) March 31, 2026
Doomed to repeat old failures
Of course, no one wants their racist views unearthed. Still, their hurt feelings do not equate to the sustained suffering and murder of Palestinians due to Zionist policy.
On the other hand, YP and Green members are standing firm and refusing to be deterred. They are demanding stronger leadership. In addition, they insist that Palestinians’ suffering under Zionism cannot be ignored — whether it comes from the political left or the right.
Connections co-founder Anwarul Khan did not mince his words as he expressed his disgust at YP’s direction of travel. He posted on X:
Ffs. Did not take long for zionist poison to infiltrate the party. With what happened in Greens yesterday and this. Its really depressing that this racist ideology is allowed to fester anywhere, let alone YP.
Journalist Paul Holden published “The Fraud” last year. He unearthed the scandal that purged so many socialist members and destroyed Labour’s chances in the 2019 general election.
Writing in the Canary, Holden wrote:
Broadly, the ‘antisemitism crisis’ wove a series of discrete allegations of anti-Jewish rhetoric or discrimination, levelled against individual Labour members as well as the party’s leadership and institutional practices, into a comprehensive indictment: that Corbyn’s Labour Party was deeply antisemitic, and that this antisemitism flowed from the left-wing ideology Corbyn espoused.
Polanski’s stewardship of the Greens appears set on a similarly troubling trajectory. An open letter sent to the party just yesterday details how actors are levelling allegations of antisemitism against anti-Zionist members.
We wrote about the open letter, in which Hamza Egal—chair of Global Majority Greens and elected SOC member—said:
A serious dimension of this pattern has been the repeated use of accusations of antisemitism — deployed not only against me but against many members of this party who oppose Zionism and its racist ideology and practice. For a Black Muslim man raising concerns about racism, governance, and Palestine solidarity, these accusations have taken on a particularly targeted character.
Another antisemitism crisis appears to be brewing
It is clear that Zionists are hard at work in the Greens and YP after recognising the huge support amongst members for the liberation of our Palestinian brothers and sisters. It has long been clear, amidst over 30 national demonstrations opposing Israel and its genocide, that the British public believe in international law and the importance of doing what is right; not what is easy.
After all, authorities have not made speaking up for Palestine easy, repeatedly using lawfare to shut down advocacy for Palestinians’ fundamental rights whilst working to restrict freedom of speech in the UK.
Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. In fact, many argue that Zionism in itself is antisemitic.
Andrew Feinstein, son of a holocaust survivor who lost her family to Hitler’s true antisemitism, refuses to sit back and watch the continual dilution of antisemitism:
People like Heidi Bachram do more to render antisemitism meaningless by regarding criticism of Israel as antisemitic. To suggest that all Jews are of one mind about Israel or anything else is deeply offensive. To many such as Stephen Kapos or my survivor mother, the lesson of… https://t.co/WvkDntMNxj
— Andrew Feinstein (@andrewfeinstein) March 31, 2026
Featured image via the Canary
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