Green Party MPs and senior leadership – including Zack Polanski – have released a statement after a motion declaring ‘Zionism is racism’ was passed at the party’s conference.
On Sunday, party members adopted a motion declaring Zionism is a racist ideology. The motion passed by 1,022 votes to 813, with senior Green figures split on the matter.
The motion states that Zionism is a “political ideology which called for the creation – and, now it exists, the continuity – of an ethno-nationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population.”
It goes on to say: “The real, material manifestation of Zionism has been the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians. This is based upon European settler-colonial systems of domination and oppression, which has also created racial hierarchies between Jews of different ethnicities in Palestine.”
The motion also backs a ‘one-state solution’ in the Middle East with a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine”.
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The vote has sparked fury from Jewish bodies and across the political spectrum, with Labour, the Lib Dems, Tories and Reform all condemning the motion.
Green leadership: ‘Party will be anti-racist in every way’
Following the news that the motion had passed, Zack Polanski, the Green Party leadership and their five MPs released a joint statement.
It reads: “As Greens, we will always uphold universal human rights. We will never tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment.
“We will continue to stand in opposition to genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the illegal occupation. We will continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government.
“And we will continue to work to ensure that the Green Party is an anti-racist party in every way. We know there is no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people.”
The statement’s signatories were Polanski, Green Party deputy leaders Rachel Maskell and Mothin Ali, Sian Berry MP, Ellie Chowns MP, Carla Denyer MP, Adrian Ramsay MP and Hannah Spencer MP.
Green deputy leaders split on ‘unhelpful’ motion
Despite both signing the statement, the Green deputy leaders had been split on the motion. Whilst Mothin Ali backed the motion, Rachel Millward said its wording was “problematic.”
In her own statement about the motion, Millward said it was a “complex, painful and deeply emotional issue.”
She continued: “I know that ‘Zionism’ will mean different things to different people (regardless of how it is defined within the motion), so I personally do not think the policy helps us do the work we all want to do.”
In a separate statement, a Green Party spokesperson said: “This has been a serious and deeply felt debate within our membership. Our members value the ability to bring forward and decide party policy, and conference has now made its decision.
“The Green Party is an anti-racist party and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Those positions remain central to our approach. So too does our deeply held commitment to equality, justice and human rights for all and opposition to racism in all its forms.”