Green Party leader Zack Polanski is no longer allowed to enter Israel after his party passed a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism. Israel's foreign ministry described the motion, passed on Sunday, as antisemitic and imposed the ban on Polanski, even though he did not take part in the vote.
The policy motion stated: 'The real, material, manifestation of Zionism has been the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians.'
Motion and reaction
Lubna Speitan, the Green member who brought forward the motion, said: 'We stand united against all forms of racism and discrimination – no exemptions.'
Some British Jews have taken the labelling of Zionism as a form of racism as a personal attack.
Jewish groups respond
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said: 'Zionism is anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it.'
'Branding most British Jews and Jewish institutions 'racist' stokes anti-Jewish hatred after a year in which British Jews have been murdered attending their synagogue, stabbed in the streets, and seen their community buildings firebombed.'
Israel accused the Green Party of legitimising 'the destruction of the State of Israel'. Foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar declared that Polanski was now barred from entering Israel.
Israeli foreign ministry statement
'Today, the Green Party in Britain adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism, legitimising armed struggle against Israel, and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel,' the Israeli foreign ministry said.
Context: UK sanctions on settlements
In early September, Ed Miliband announced a spate of sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements despite backlash from Israel and the US. The Foreign Secretary laid out plans to ban the import of goods from the settlements in the occupied West Bank and sanction firms and individuals providing services to those communities.
Justifying his decision, Miliband said Israel has 'turned a blind eye' to the 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians in the West Bank by 'settler terrorists' and vowed not to 'acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution'.
However, Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar said the country would introduce countermeasures to the UK's sanctions and close the British consulate in Jerusalem.
