By Lucas Taylor
Documents obtained by The Crossbench have shown that the Mothin Ali-backed ‘Greens For Palestine’ is organising members to influence and dominate the prioritisation of policy motions for the Green Party’s Autumn Conference in just over a month, calling on members to prioritise their ‘Zionism is racism’ motion, which wants to ‘de-proscribe Palestine Action’, and to demote motions they disapprove of – including a motion entitled ‘Protecting our Party Democracy from External Infiltration”.
We received a phone call and documents from the group, seeing how they are privately whipping up votes by privately calling, emailing, and texting members of Greens For Palestine, providing a document explaining how to vote for motions and prioritise their motion ‘Zionism is Racism’ alongside other policies they wish to be passed at conference.
Explaining how to cause a “maximum impact” on the ranking system used to decide future motions, group material tells members and allies why their motion matters and others don’t, such as instructing the motion “Protecting our Party Democracy from External Infiltration” to be ranked lowest. Asking for members to also prioritise motions to lift restrictions on Iran and the IRGC to avoid “warmongering”, claiming that “every vote counts”; otherwise theirs may be “silenced”.
The prioritisation ballot determines how the order motions appear on the conference agenda. With the motions that are ranked higher more likely to be debated and voted on, and motions that are at the bottom of the agenda facing the risk of not being debated or voted on.
During the last spring conference Greens For Palestine were unsuccessful in getting their motion through after amendments were made to it, claiming to have been “filibustered” by other party members. It seems even the wider Green Party of England and Wales is wary of these.
The document doesn’t just ask members to support the motion; under a section titled “Why This Order Matters”, members are instructed to place “Zionism is Racism” first. Describing it as the group’s “flagship motion”, and getting it “onto the floor of the debate” is the “single most important outcome” of the conference for Palestinian liberation” Justifying it for the top spot so it cannot be “starved or filibustered”.
Greens For Palestine describes “Zionism Is Racism” as a campaign to establish the Green Party as an anti-Zionist party. In an August statement, the organisation contrasted the motion with the alternative “Building a Consensus in Support for Palestinian Liberation”, describing the latter as an attempt to “sanitise” the Palestinian liberation movement. Stating that the motion had attracted more than 700 supporters for the autumn conference.
The spring conference of last year saw Zionism defined as a “political ideology associated with the creation and continuation of an ethnonationalist Jewish state” and argued that its historical and contemporary manifestation had resulted in the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians.
Now this organisation is calling for a ‘single democratic Palestinian state’ in all of historic Palestine and the ‘abolition of Israel’, representing a significant shift in the party’s language on Zionism and Israel to become more hostile.
The group has seen public support and promotions from members such as Sophie Folan, most known for their X account ‘Stats For Lefites’, who is part of the Green Party’s governing council, made for directing party policy, after an endorsement from Greens For Palestine and based on a manifesto to “support members when they’re attacked and smeared by the feral Zionist press” and a person who looks forward to “working with comrades on GPC to build a radical anti-imperialist Green Party”.
Folan has been covered by The Times saying that she described the antisemitism crisis as “constructed moral panic” allegedly “invented by the Zionist lobby” while also calling for the
abolition of Israel, all things mentioned in Green For Palestine’s motion.
Whilst the group seeks to influence the conference, it has also supported an activist who now occupies a position on the party’s governing council and who openly advocates a more aggressive anti-Israeli direction for the party, demonstrating that its influence extends beyond conference motions and into the party’s internal structures.
GPEW Deputy Leader Mothin Ali, who famously took to social media on the day of the October 7th attacks criticising “white supremacist European settler colonialism” and stated, “Indigenous people have the right to fight back” has been a friend of the group, previously participating in private meetings to advise Greens For Palestine members on legal procedures after being suspended as candidates.
Ali will be openly supporting the “Zionism is Racism” motion ahead of the party’s conference, to replace Israel with a single Palestinian state.
The involvement of figures such as Folan and Ali illustrates why Greens for Palestine’s conference campaign matters beyond the prioritisation ballot itself. The organisation is not simply attempting to secure a higher position for one policy motion, instead operating within a wider network of activists and elected Green Party figures who are advocating for a more
extreme anti-Zionist and anti-Israel political direction for the party.
If adopted, the motion would see the Green Party support the de-proscription of Palestine Action from the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
Palestine Action was proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation following a series of malicious actions targeting UK military sites. With its militant tactics used to intimidate enterprises and coerce the government’s policy.
In some cases causing mass damage to HM Armed Forces and commercial defence infrastructure. On one occasion, they even harmed police officers, using a sledgehammer to fracture Katet Evan’s spine during a break-in at Elbit Systems, which they claimed to be providing arms to Israel.
Members are also encouraged to reject ‘Building a Consensus’ as they believe “consensus-building with Zionists has been tried for decades and has only supported the occupation” claiming that “the two-state solution is dead.” Going as far as to say that the motion “risks legitimising frameworks that accept Israel’s right to exist as a settler-colonial state”.
The document obtained explicitly instructed members to deprioritise the latter, demonstrating their campaign is not solely about securing a high rank for their motion but removing any sensible opposition or alternative solution. No comments have been received upon requests to members of the group and Greens for Palestine.