Zarah Sultana has laid out her position on NATO after criticism over her comments on the differences between Your Party and the Green Party. Sultana has been a long-time opponent of the US-dominated North Atlantic military alliance.
The Coventry MP called NATO an “imperialist war machine” and called for immediate withdrawal:
NATO isn’t about “peace” or “security”. It’s an imperialist war machine. Just look at Afghanistan and Libya.
Arms dealers profit while our NHS collapses, public services crumble and millions of children grow up in poverty.
We must withdraw from NATO immediately.
People don’t…
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) October 28, 2025
In a wide-ranging interview with PoliticsJoe on 26 October, Sultana said she would work with the Greens. However, she was clear that Your Party had different positions on NATO and diplomatic relations with Israel:
“The Greens believe that we can have diplomatic relations with Israel, and we think that is not okay.”@zarahsultana breaks down the difference between Your Party and Zack Polanski’s Greens.
Watch the full interview, live now. pic.twitter.com/Dy2TmG3J55
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) October 26, 2025
Sultana speaks out
There was some pushback from other figures on the Left. Some of it appeared to be in less than good faith, while others put forward solid counterpoints.
For example, Middle East scholar Phil Proudfoot pointed out the Greens has already voted to proscribe the Israeli military as a terror organisation. The inference appears to be that Sultana’s suggestion that the Greens are soft on Israel is unfair:
ok https://t.co/QkHs5DlYxS pic.twitter.com/6g2iHxDbYb
— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) October 26, 2025
Guardian journalist Owen Jones posted a lengthy critique. He also mentioned IDF proscription and pointed out that the Greens were talking about a wealth tax and abolishing landlordism:
Genuine respect for Zarah:
But the Greens support proscribing the IDF as a terrorist organisation and support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
The Greens are obviously embracing class politics under Zack Polanski – from a wealth tax to abolishing landlords.
Polanski is also… https://t.co/JjFbPXjQxH
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) October 27, 2025
Jones also pointed out that Polanski was a critic of NATO:
Polanski is also pushing for alternatives to NATO.
Polanski himself explained his critique of NATO recently to BBC interviewer Victoria Derbyshire;
Victoria Derbyshire, “Do you want the UK to withdraw from NATO?”
Zack Polanski, “Not immediately. The world is in turmoil and we need to make sure our country is defended”
“However, we’ve got Donald Trump in the White House. I would say America has been a problem with… pic.twitter.com/4ZTWjaatKR
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) October 19, 2025
In an earlier explanation of his NATO views, Polanski said while the alliance was “clearly the game in town at the moment”:
…it is clearly not that one that is working because Donald Trump holds far too much power.
Zack Polanski’s stance on NATO. Trump has too much power in NATO and is not tough enough on Russia. The UK should still stay in NATO though.
The neoliberal stance, unsurprisingly. pic.twitter.com/jPh8xYi0i7— Kate 🕊 (@affleckquine) September 24, 2025
There is also the question of popular feeling about NATO. A YouGov poll from June 2025 found:
…that most Britons continue to support the UK’s membership of NATO (64%) and a majority likewise have a favourable view of the organisation (59%).
The findings suggest voters who favour neoliberal status quo parties are most in favour of NATO, while parties further right and left are more critical.
Positivity toward NATO is highest among Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem voters (67-71%), lower among Green voters (59%) and lowest among Reform UK voters (49%).
Clearly, it should be said of the latter cases, this is for quite different reasons.
Good faith debate
Your Party does not have any polices on NATO officially as it has not yet been formed. That said it’s leading figures – Sultana and Corbyn – are long-time critics of the US-led alliance. And it certainly did, as Sultana says, play a role in Libya and Afghanistan.
But it should be added they both served in Labour during a time when its manifesto’s were pro-NATO – and that includes under Corbyn’s leadership. It’s also not clear if Sultana was simply responding to a question with her own views or she was sketching out something which will be a Your Party policy.
Whatever the thinking, Green Party-aligned figures like Jones and Proudfoot clearly disagree with Sultana. But they appear to do so in relative good faith. Which in a time as fraught as ours – and on a left-wing as fractious as ours can be – this the best way to have these discussions.
Featured image via the Canary
