This doctrine is enshrined in the organisation's constitution and values, which state their values as including 'international peace and cooperation,' 'democratic socialism in the UK and Israel, 'the application of 'Jewish ethical principles to create a society based on social justices and a sustainable environment', 'to promote the centrality of Israel in Jewish life' and opposition to 'fascist, racist and anti-Semitic groups.

'[11][12] The origins of Poale Zion in Britain were in the Ma'aravi ("Western") Society, formed in London in 1902 by Jewish socialist journalist Kalman Marmor, under the influence of the Eastern European Labour Zionist movement led by Marxist theorist Ber Borochov.

[17][18] Poale Zion was active in Britain during World War I, under the leadership of J Pomeranz and Morris Meyer, and influential on the British labour movement, including on the drafting (by Sidney Webb and Arthur Henderson) of the Labour Party’s War Aims Memorandum, recognising the "right of return" of Jews to Palestine, a document which preceded the Balfour Declaration by three months.

In June 1982, Poale Zion formed a Scottish branch, with the MP for East Kilbride, Maurice Miller, becoming its chair.

[35] Leading postwar members of Poale Zion included Maurice Orbach;[36][37] Samuel Fisher, Baron Fisher of Camden;[38] Leo Abse, who set up the Cardiff branch in 1948;[39] Mary Mikardo[40] and Ian Mikardo;[41] Simon Pinner and his son Hayim Pinner, who was president of the youth wing and editor in the 1960s of its paper Jewish Vanguard;[42] the brothers Leslie and Harold Lever (Leslie served as chair);[43] Percy Sassoon Gourgey, secretary in 1959 and chair 1964–67;[44][45] Sidney Goldberg, general secretary at the time of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war;[40] and Eric Moonman, chair in the 1970s.

[46] Reginald Freeson served as the political secretary of Poale Zion, co-chair and editor of its journal Vanguard in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

[33][47][48][49] Louise Ellman recounts that the July 2004 'launch at the House of Commons was a highly successful event, with the Israeli Ambassador and the Foreign Office Minister responsible for Middle East matters as guest speakers.

Messages of goodwill were delivered from the Prime Minister, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the World Labour Zionist Movement'.

[53] Her successor, Jeremy Newmark, was a former CEO of the UK's Jewish Leadership Council and a former spokesperson for the previous Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.

The whole purpose of JLM is to become an organising focus within the party and a space for people who feel Labour is their political home.

"[56] The JLM was described by The Jewish Chronicle as a 'gathering-place for moderates concerned about the direction the party is taking under Mr Corbyn' and affiliate membership was established for non-Jews.

[53] The 2016 JLM annual general meeting voted unanimously to adopt a new structure to enable it to increase its engagement inside the Labour Party on a local, regional and national basis.

[54] In the 2016 Labour Party leadership election, when MPs unsuccessfully sought to replace Jeremy Corbyn, JLM nominated Owen Smith after over 90% of its members voted for him in an internal ballot.

[69] The Youth and Students section provides 14–26 year old members a network and opportunities to engage with the JLM and the Labour Party.

[71] In March 2018, the JLM supported a demonstration by Jewish groups against the Labour Party leadership's handling of antisemitism.

[75] In September 2018, as the JLM asked, Labour added all 11 IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism examples, unamended, to the Party's code of conduct.

[77] In November 2018, the JLM submitted a dossier of examples to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and asked it to investigate the Labour Party which, it said, was "institutionally anti-Semitic".

[78] In March 2019, Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the JLM conveying his and the shadow cabinet's "very strong desire for you to remain a part of our movement" following reports that it was considering disaffiliating.

[79] In April 2019, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that they had joined the JLM.

[82] In July 2019, JLM described Labour's appointment of a liaison officer to improve the party's relationships with the Jewish community as a "pointless, ineffective gesture".

Speakers included MPs, Ruth Smeeth, Margaret Hodge, Alex Sobel, Louise Ellman, Stella Creasy and Rosie Duffield, Seb Dance MEP, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Luke Akehurst, director of We Believe in Israel and secretary of Labour First, Nathan Yeowell, director of Progress, Miriam Mirwitch, chair of Young Labour and Rania Ramli, chairperson of the recently disbanded Labour Students.

Hodge drew loud cheers when she promised that "I'm not going to give up until Jeremy Corbyn ceases to be leader of the Labour Party.

"[84] In December 2019, the JLM made a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission as part of the EHRC's investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

JLM said that their role had been undermined after the Labour Party announced it planned to enrol staff and members of the National Executive Committee and National Constitutional Committee on a short course on antisemitism being developed by the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, despite Labour's stated intention of consulting Jewish communal organisations prior to its implementation.

[101][102] JLM said their members would not campaign for Lisa Forbes in the June 2019 Peterborough by-election after it was revealed she had liked a social media post of a video of children praying in solidarity with the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings with accompanying text which commented that Theresa May had a "Zionist slave masters agenda", and had expressed her "enjoyment" in reading a thread which included a comment that Islamic State had been founded and funded by the CIA and Mossad.

[105] In October 2019, The Jewish Chronicle reported that the JLM's members would not campaign in support of Labour candidate Ross Houston in Finchley and Golders Green in the December 2019 general election as a show of solidarity with its previous Parliamentary Chair, Luciana Berger, who was standing for the Liberal Democrats in the seat.

[107][108][109] According to The Independent, JLM "is expected to draw attention (during the campaign) to Labour MPs who it believes have a poor record of tackling antisemitism".

"[113] In March 2018, the Morning Star criticised the JLM for its "unquestioning zionism" and for being "unscrupulous enough to call fellow Jews anti-semites when the real fallout is between zionists and anti-zionists.