Britain’s Green Party has voted to classify Zionism as a form of racism, a decision that has drawn condemnation from British Jewish groups and the Israeli government.
The motion was passed by 1,022 votes to 813 at the party’s annual conference on Sunday, despite opposition from several senior members.
The Green Party described Zionism as “an ethnonationalist political project” and renewed its call for the British government to halt all arms trade with Israel.
The party also reaffirmed its support for Palestinian self-determination and called for the creation of a single democratic state across historic Palestine.
Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, who did not vote on the motion, said he and other senior party figures would “continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government.”
Polanski also said there was “no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people.”
The Movement for Progressive Judaism condemned the decision, describing it as a sign that “The Green Party has made antisemitism party policy and become a racist party.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also criticised the decision and said the motion “constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.”
Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, subsequently decided to bar Polanski from entering Israel, according to the ministry.
Meanwhile, Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali, who supported the motion, said the Palestinian death toll during the conflict with Hamas was central to the decision.
“The motion defines Zionism quite clearly. It defines it as an ethnonationalist movement. It defines it as ethnic cleansing. It defines it as genocide,” Ali told Sky News.
Israel has rejected allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide, while the British government has said Israeli settlers’ actions in the West Bank amount to ethnic cleansing but that courts must determine whether other Israeli actions constitute genocide.
The Israeli government also urged other British political parties to condemn the Green Party’s decision, accusing the Greens of adopting “the green of Hamas” and “its ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle.”
