Lubna Speitan, a member of the Green Party of England and Wales with Palestinian roots, reported receiving death and rape threats following the passage of a motion defining Zionism as racism. The motion was approved at the party's conference in Brighton, with a vote of 1,022 to 813, and has faced criticism from other British political parties, including Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who called it 'wrong' and 'anti-Semitic'. Speitan stated that the threats are part of an intimidation effort from pro-Israel activists and have been reported to the police. She emphasized the importance of confronting such threats despite their severity.
The motion supports the right of Palestinians to self-determination and advocates for a single democratic state in historic Palestine for both Muslims and Jews. It also asserts that anti-Zionism should not be equated with anti-Semitism. Speitan highlighted the loss of 56 family members in the ongoing conflict in Gaza and defended the motion's position on Zionism as an ethnonationalist settler-colonial project. She criticized media reports that have attempted to discredit her by linking her to an alleged terrorist, stating that such tactics would not be dignified with a response.
The Green Party stated that Speitan holds no official party positions and takes allegations of this nature seriously, with an internal investigation underway. A media review indicated that opponents of the motion received significantly more coverage than its supporters. The classification of Zionism as a form of racism has historical precedent, including a 1975 United Nations General Assembly resolution that was later repealed in 1991.