Reuters —
Britain’s Green Party voted on Sunday to classify Zionism as a form of racism, drawing criticism from British Jews and the Israeli government, which said it saw the party as “an organization that gives legitimacy to terrorism”.
The party, which won 6% of the vote in the 2024 national election, said it considered Zionism an “ethno-nationalist political project” and repeatedly called on Britain’s Labor government to end all arms trade with Israel.
“The motion also reiterates the Green Party’s support for people’s right to self-determination and calls for the establishment of a single democratic state across historic Palestine,” the party said in a statement.
The definition of Zionism, which led to the creation of the modern state of Israel in the 20th century, and what it means for the rights of non-Jews in Israel and its neighboring territories is debatable. Jewish organizations sometimes define it as the right of Jews to self-determination.
The Green Party’s motion was passed by a vote of 1,022 to 813, despite opposition from many key figures. Party leader Zac Polanski, who is seeking an parliamentary election on Thursday in the London constituency currently vacant by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, did not vote.
This result was condemned by British Jewish groups.
“The Green Party has developed anti-Semitic party policies and has become a racist party,” the Movement for Progressive Judaism said, adding that just because some Jews supported the motion did not mean it could not be used to discriminate against other Jews.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has decided to declare Polanski banned from entering Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on X Sunday.
The ministry said the Green Party’s motion “denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and constitutes clearly anti-Semitic text as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).”
Mohsin Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party and a supporter of the motion, told Sky News on Saturday that the high death toll of Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which followed a deadly attack on an Israeli music festival by Palestinian militants in 2023, was a key backdrop for the vote.
“This motion defines Zionism very clearly. It defines it as an ethnic nationalist movement. It defines it as ethnic cleansing. It defines it as genocide,” Ali said.
The British government considers the actions of Israeli settlers in the West Bank to constitute ethnic cleansing, but says courts must decide whether other Israeli actions constitute genocide.
Israel, which rejects claims of ethnic cleansing and genocide, on Sunday called on other British parties to condemn the Green Party’s vote. “The Green Party has adopted not only the Greens of Hamas, but also its ideology: the eradication of the State of Israel through armed struggle,” he said.
Polanski and other Green Party leaders “continue to condemn the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government” and said there is “no contradiction between supporting Palestinian rights and Jewish rights.”
