The Green Party of England and Wales has adopted a motion that says Zionism should be treated as a form of racism. Israel responded by barring the party’s leader, Zack Polanski, from entering the country.
Members approved the motion at the party’s conference on Sunday, 4 October, by 1,022 votes to 813. It declares the Greens an anti-Zionist party and supports a single democratic state across historic Palestine. In its statement, the party described the Zionism it opposes as an ethnonationalist political project.
The motion says its criticism is directed at a political ideology, rather than the religious or ethnic background of people who identify as Zionists. That distinction has not resolved the objections. British Jewish organisations have condemned the policy as antisemitic, arguing that it targets a belief in Jewish self-determination held by many Jews. The party says it remains committed to the rights of both Palestinians and Jewish people.
Vote divides senior Greens
Polanski, who is Jewish, did not take part in the conference vote. He had left to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Four of the party’s five MPs opposed the motion, according to ITV News. Polanski, the MPs, and the party’s deputy leaders later issued a joint statement saying they would not tolerate discrimination or harassment.
The party has said the motion does not itself change its disciplinary procedures. During the conference debate, members rejected an amendment that would have expressly protected members from pressure or discipline over links to Jewish institutions that describe themselves as Zionist. That leaves a question for the party about how its new policy will work in practice.
Israel bars Polanski
Israel’s foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had decided to bar Polanski from entering Israel. The ministry called the motion antisemitic, saying it denied Jewish people the right to self-determination. Those are the Israeli government’s characterisations of the motion; the Green Party disputes that opposition to Zionism should be equated with antisemitism.
The vote is now party policy, but Green politicians are not required to support it. Its practical effect, including how the party handles disagreement among its own members, remains to be seen.
