UK Green member behind anti-Zionism motion ‘receives death threats’
News Source
•Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:36:34 +0000
📰 What Happened
British-Palestinian Green Party member Lubna Speitan says she has received death and rape threats since her party passed a motion calling Zionism a form of racism. She told Al Jazeera she has had dozens of threatening messages, which she reported to police.
The Green Party of England and Wales passed the motion at its conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813.
🔍 The Backstory
The motion says Zionism, the belief that Jews have a historic claim to Palestine, is based on the dispossession of Palestinians. It adds that anti-Zionism should not be treated as the same as anti-Semitism and backs a single democratic state. Other UK parties criticised it, and Prime Minister Andy Burnham called it "wrong" and "anti-Semitic." In 1975 the UN General Assembly passed a similar resolution, which was repealed in 1991.
Speitan says 56 members of her family have been killed in Gaza since the war began three years ago.
🎯 Why It Matters
The row has thrown the Greens into turmoil and could shape British politics, as the party has been winning more support. It also shows how deeply the debate over Israel and Gaza is splitting Western parties. And it shows how fast that debate can turn into threats against one person, in this case a party member with no official role.
British-Palestinian Green Party member Lubna Speitan says she has received death and rape threats since her party passed a motion calling Zionism a form of racism. She told Al Jazeera she has had dozens of threatening messages, which she reported to police.
The Green Party of England and Wales passed the motion at its conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813.
The motion says Zionism, the belief that Jews have a historic claim to Palestine, is based on the dispossession of Palestinians. It adds that anti-Zionism should not be treated as the same as anti-Semitism and backs a single democratic state. Other UK parties criticised it, and Prime Minister Andy Burnham called it "wrong" and "anti-Semitic." In 1975 the UN General Assembly passed a similar resolution, which was repealed in 1991.
Speitan says 56 members of her family have been killed in Gaza since the war began three years ago.
The row has thrown the Greens into turmoil and could shape British politics, as the party has been winning more support. It also shows how deeply the debate over Israel and Gaza is splitting Western parties. And it shows how fast that debate can turn into threats against one person, in this case a party member with no official role.