Green Party members have voted to define Zionism as racism, with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against at the party conference in Brighton. The motion declares the Greens to be an “anti-Zionist party” and sets into policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”.
Polanski skips vote to campaign
Party leader Zack Polanski did not take part in the vote, having left the conference after his speech on Friday to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. The motion also supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.
Party response and Jewish leaders' concerns
A Green Party spokesperson said: “This has been a serious and deeply felt debate within our membership. Our members value the ability to bring forward and decide party policy, and conference has now made its decision.”
“The Green Party is an anti-racist party and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Members voted against adding a clause to make clear the motion should not be used to “pressure, proscribe or discipline” party members for their affiliation to synagogues or other Jewish groups that describe themselves as Zionist.
Jewish leaders said the failure of the Green Party leadership to oppose the move “shows a staggering indifference to the welfare of British Jews”. The chief executives of the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council wrote a letter to Green Party leaders ahead of the conference airing their concerns and referring back to a warning they issued over the motion earlier this year.
“We also emphasised the implications for the safety and welfare of all British Jews, and our belief that this motion would make the Green Party the first electorally significant UK political party in living memory to adopt what appears to be an overtly antisemitic political platform,” they said.
Divisions within the party
The vote has exposed divisions within the party as four of its five MPs – Ellie Chowns, Sian Berry and ex-leaders Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer – came out to publicly reject the motion. Ms Chowns said in a social media post that she was concerned the motion “risks fuelling division and risks undermining the party’s ability to advocate effectively for justice and peace”.
The position will become party policy but the Greens do not require all their politicians to back it. Party leader Mr Polanski is running to become an MP in Sir Keir Starmer’s former seat and the Greens had encouraged members to leave Brighton to support his campaign in London.
Mr Polanski said he believes that the “displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people” is “clearly racism” in an interview with the BBC earlier this week. But he said he wanted an amendment to call for one Palestinian state in the motion, “because what I want to see is equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians”.
