Greenwich Council has unanimously passed a bipartisan motion expressing support for Jewish residents and rejecting the Green Party's 'Zionism is racism' stance, following testimony from local Jews about their experiences of antisemitism.
The motion, proposed by council leader Anthony Okereke and seconded by Conservative group leader Charlie Davis, was passed on Wednesday (November 11). It came the same week that Westminster City Council passed a similar motion, with Labour and Conservative members joining together.
Community members speak out
During the meeting, members of the Jewish community, including Rabbi Ephraim Carlebach from Greenwich & Docklands Chabad, addressed the council. Michelle Brooks-Evans, treasurer of the Greenwich Multi-Faith Forum and chair of Bromley Reform Synagogue, described recent acts of antisemitism experienced by her family. She said one of her daughters had swastikas drawn on her school books, and her son had been called a "baby-killer who should have died in a gas chamber" while at university.
Brooks-Evans said: "I've always believed this is a place where people of different faiths and backgrounds can live together with mutual respect and understanding. But today, that sense of safety and belonging is being eroded."
While she was speaking, someone in the public gallery displayed a sheet of paper stating: "I live in Greenwich. I am Jewish. I believe Zionism is racism". The sign was confiscated by council officers.
Green Party motion proposer responds
Lubna Speitan, the proposer of the Green Party motion, attended the meeting and criticised the council's motion during public questions. She said: "Whatever motion Labour tables will not change the fact that Zionism is racist or that Green Party members passed this policy democratically."
Speitan, a founding member of Greenwich Palestine Alliance, described the council's motion as "misleading, false and divisive" and said the Greenwich Multi-Faith Forum excluded "anti-Zionist Jews, Muslims and many other faith groups". She also said "Conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism is in itself, antisemitic" and described Israel as a "racist apartheid settler colony committing genocide". Israel has consistently denied it is committing genocide in Gaza, though a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded last month that "Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amid continuing genocide in Gaza".
The council's motion agreed with a statement from the Greenwich Multi-Faith Forum that said, in part: "We do not agree with this [Green Party] motion and are concerned that it risks deepening division and undermining the sense of safety and belonging of Jewish people."
Council debate and aftermath
Cllr Okereke said the Green Party motion had "triggered worry and concern" in Greenwich, and that the council's motion "commits us to working and tackling all types of hatred in our communities." Cllr Tamasin Rhymes, the Green opposition leader in Greenwich, said her group would support the motion "on the basis of the Green Party's commitment to the Equality and Equity Charter and believe that the council must uphold the Equality Act 2010 and tackle all forms of discrimination and racism equally". She also made reference to those killed in Gaza, saying: "On Remembrance Day, as we remember those who have and do serve, I'm also reminded of those who die as civilians in conflict."
After the meeting concluded, Speitan shouted at councillors to consider the feelings of Palestinians in the borough who were "witnessing the erasure of our people", and shouted "Free Palestine" as she was escorted from the chamber by security. Speitan gained national attention when her 'Zionism is racism' motion was approved by Green Party membership at its 2026 conference in early October. She also instigated legal action against Greenwich Council earlier this year, challenging the authority's failure to divest over £60million in investments in companies with interests in Israel.
