Key facts
- UK Green Party members voted to equate Zionism with racism.
- The motion passed with 1,022 votes in favor and 813 against.
- The policy calls for Israel to be replaced by a single democratic Palestinian state.
- The Israeli government condemned the motion as antisemitic.
- Vivien Lichtenstein, chair of Jewish Greens, is considering leaving the party.
- The motion defines Zionism as an ideology supporting an 'ethnonationalist Jewish state'.
The chair of the UK Green Party's Jewish members group, Vivien Lichtenstein, has stated it is "quite possible" she will leave the party following a vote by members to declare Zionism a form of racism. The motion, which passed by 1,022 votes to 813 at the party's conference in Brighton, has divided senior figures and drawn criticism from Jewish groups and the Israeli government.
Lichtenstein, who is also a former chair of her local party branch, described the motion as a "very bad motion" that "crosses a line." She indicated that she had opposed the motion from its inception and was concerned about its potential implications for Jewish members and organizations.
The adopted policy supports the establishment of a "single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine" with equal rights for all and the right of return for Palestinians. It defines Zionism as an ideology supporting an "ethnonationalist Jewish state." The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council countered that "Zionism is anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it."
Green Party leader Zack Polanski had called for amendments to the motion, including protections for Jewish members and the removal of language referring to a "single democratic Palestinian State," but these were defeated. In response to the vote, Israel's foreign ministry banned Polanski from entering the country. A Green spokeswoman insisted the party would protect Jewish members.