British Green Party votes to equate Zionism with racism

The Greens in England and Wales have formally adopted a policy that equates Zionism with racism and calls for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state.The move is expected to be challenged by some party members under equality laws.Members voted at the party’s annual conference in Brighton to back a motion that calls for Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, to be “treated as any other form of racism”. It passed by 1,022 votes to 813.It has been publicly opposed by four of the party’s five MPs, although Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, has said he believes Zionism is a racist idea.The motion, which is now formal policy, calls for a single Palestinian state in place of Israel, “with equal rights for all”.Adrian Ramsay, one of the MPs and a former party co-leader, said after the vote that he was “deeply saddened” by the decision, and that the idea of endorsing a single Palestinian state did not match Green commitments to self-determination.The motion argues that Zionism is necessarily racist as it “privileges one ethnic group on the basis of the subjugation of others”. It adds: “This motion is aimed at the political ideology and practice of Zionism, as defined, and not at the religious or ethnic background of those who may identify as Zionists. Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews …” While the proposers of the motion argue it will not be used to discipline Jewish members who support Zionism, it is understood that some members are consulting lawyers over whether the policy could be challenged.Adam Wagner, the barrister who led a case which concluded that the Labour Party under then leader Jeremy Corbyn broke equality laws over anti-Semitism, said that such a case would have a good chance of success. “I think there is a strong risk that the motion as passed contravenes the Equality Act 2010, which applies to political parties, as it will discriminate against and harass people who hold Zionist beliefs and Jewish people more generally,” he said.There is considerable disquiet among some senior Greens who feel that Polanski, who is Jewish, could have taken a stronger stance on the issue. The party leader, who missed the vote to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, where he is standing in a parliamentary byelection next week, has justified the motion’s argument by pointing to the death toll in Gaza during Israel’s assault on the territory.[ ‘Terminally online’: Frustrated Greens want leader to hand over his social mediaOpens in new window ]Asked on Saturday if he believed Zionism was racist, Polanski told the BBC: “Well, in the motion, it is defined as the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people. I think that is clearly racism.”The Movement for Progressive Judaism, one of the main Jewish denominations in the United Kingdom, condemned the vote.