Green Party leader will not overturn Zionism is racism motion

The Green Party in England and Wales has adopted a policy declaring Zionism racist and backing a single democratic Palestinian state in all historic Palestine, a decision that has triggered a fierce internal and international row and led Israel to bar party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country.

The motion was put forward by party members, including the group Greens for Palestine, and passed at the party's conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813, or 56 per cent to 44 per cent. It defines Zionism as an ideology calling for an ethno-nationalist Jewish state to the domination and exclusion of non-Jewish people, and says it should be treated as a form of racism. It also rejects the two-state solution. Journalists were not allowed into the hall for the debate. Leadership-backed amendments, including one intended to protect Jewish members who attend synagogues that identify as Zionist, were defeated.

The vote exposed a split between activists and much of the parliamentary party. Four of the five Green MPs opposed the motion. One deputy leader, Mothin Ali, voted for it. Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, was not in Brighton for the vote and did not take part; he was campaigning in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which he later did not win. He had supported amendments to soften the wording.

Reaction was immediate. The Board of Deputies of British Jews called the motion an attack on the Jewish community and an anti-Semitic platform. The Jewish Leadership Council condemned it. The Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, called it poisonous anti-Semitism. Israel's foreign ministry described the motion as a clear anti-Semitic text that went beyond legitimate political debate, said the Greens were giving legitimacy to terrorism, and barred Polanski from entering Israel. The Green Party said it would not be bullied into silence and that it was proud to stand up for Palestinian rights.

Within the party, Jewish members and others warned the policy made them feel excluded. The chair of Jewish Greens, Vivian Lichtenstein, said she was considering her future in the party. One longstanding member said she was "devastated" and felt delegitimised. A Green councillor called on Polanski to resign. The leadership issued a joint statement saying it would not tolerate harassment or discrimination and that there was no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people, but it did not disavow the motion. Polanski later said anti-Semitism and criticism of the Israeli state must remain distinct, and that blurring the line was anti-Semitic and made Jewish people less safe.

In an interview, Polanski said he would not try to overturn the motion but would seek to amend it at the first opportunity. Under party rules, conference policy lasts two years, so change may not come until 2028. He said he wanted to move away from backing a single state and towards letting Israelis and Palestinians decide their own future. He also argued that the "practical application" of Zionism had been racist, while insisting Jewish people remained welcome in the party. His critics said he had failed to show leadership by staying away from the vote and then avoiding questions.

The row has overshadowed Polanski's conference announcements, including a call for a three-year emergency cap on private rent rises, a national fair rents guarantee, higher taxes on the richest and a clean energy revolution. The party has grown rapidly, from about 68,000 members to a quarter of a million, and won record local election results. But its polling has slipped from around 20 per cent to about 10 to 11 per cent amid an Andy Burnham bounce for Labour. Labour MPs have reported the party to Sussex Police and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and the dispute has raised questions about the Greens' ability to work with Labour in any future coalition. The party now faces a difficult debate over whether its new policy and its more activist membership have widened its appeal or damaged it.