Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday barred Zack Polanski, leader of Britain’s Green Party, from entering Israel after the party conference adopted a resolution defining Zionism as a form of racism and supporting the establishment of a single Palestinian state throughout what it calls “historic Palestine.”
Polanski, who is Jewish and identifies as anti-Zionist, did not take part in the vote, which passed by 1,022 votes to 813. Before the vote, he had expressed reservations about parts of the motion. Asked whether Israel had a right to exist, however, he declined to answer affirmatively, saying instead that “human beings have a right to exist.”
World Zionist Organization representative tears up resolution outside Big Ben: ‘Into the dustbin of history’
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the resolution “equates Zionism with racism, grants legitimacy to armed struggle against Israel and calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea,’ which means the destruction of the State of Israel.”
According to the ministry, “the resolution constitutes a clearly antisemitic text under the IHRA definition, since it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.”
“Accordingly, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has decided, as a first step, to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel,” the ministry said, adding that the move had been coordinated with the relevant Israeli authorities.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry issued an unusually sharp response to the resolution adopted at the Green Party conference in Brighton, saying the party “today ceased functioning as a political party and became an organization that supports terrorism.”
“The Greens have officially adopted the green color of Hamas and its ideological doctrine, which calls for the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle,” the ministry said.
It added that the resolution “grants legitimacy to armed struggle, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state from the river to the sea, in practice the destruction of the State of Israel, and equates Zionism with racism.”
“This is no longer a political text,” the ministry said. “It crosses the boundaries of political discourse and, as long as it remains in place, constitutes a stain on the history of the United Kingdom.”
The ministry called on all British political parties, “first and foremost the governing Labour Party,” to reject the resolution immediately and unequivocally. Israel’s condemnation was also widely reported in the British media.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish and anti-Zionist
(Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)
The resolution adopted at the Green conference defines Zionism as an “ethnonationalist political project” and calls for “one democratic state throughout historic Palestine.” It also reiterates the party’s demand for Britain to end arms trade with Israel.
The proposal triggered fierce disagreement within the party, with several senior and former Green figures opposing it, including Caroline Lucas, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer.
Lucas warned before the vote that the resolution could create the impression that Jewish people were not welcome in the party, while Denyer cautioned that it could alienate Jews who strongly oppose the Israeli government and support Palestinian rights.
Polanski himself had sought changes to parts of the proposal before the vote and did not participate in the ballot.
Alongside Israel’s diplomatic response, Matan Bar Noy, head of the World Zionist Organization’s delegation to Britain and Europe, released a video filmed outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in which he tore up a copy of the resolution.
The gesture echoed a famous 1975 speech by Chaim Herzog, then Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and later president, after the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379 declaring that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” That resolution was revoked in 1991.
“Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the expression of their right to self-determination in their historic homeland,” Bar Noy said.
“Fifty-one years after the UN adopted the shameful resolution equating Zionism with racism, and years after the world withdrew it, there are those trying to bring the same libel back through the rear door,” he said.
“Here, in the heart of British democracy, our message is clear: We will not accept an attempt to turn the Jewish people’s very right to self-determination into racism. I am tearing up this resolution and throwing it where it belongs, into the dustbin of history.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar
(Photo: Rafi Ben Hakon)
Bar Noy said the decision was especially serious given rising antisemitism in Britain and what he described as an increasingly hostile climate toward Israel and the Jewish community.
“At precisely such a time, political parties are expected to show responsibility and fight hatred, not grant it legitimacy through the delegitimization of Zionism,” he said. “Criticism of the Israeli government is legitimate, and we can debate it. Denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination is something entirely different.”
Israel’s ambassador to the European Union, Avi Nir, also attacked the decision.
“If Zionism is racism, then I am a proud racist,” he said. “In reality, I am a proud Zionist, while the real racists are the members of the British Green Party who supported this motion and opposed an amendment seeking to protect Jewish party members who pray in ‘Zionist’ synagogues from being targeted.”
Nir also invoked Herzog’s 1975 UN speech, quoting his declaration: “I do not come to this rostrum to plead the case of the Jewish people, or to defend the Zionist movement. I come to express our total contempt for this resolution and our refusal to accept it.”
“The Jewish people have been the victims of racism and discrimination for thousands of years,” Nir added. “We know the price of hatred and prejudice better than any other nation on earth.”
“It is a cruel irony that those who now accuse us of racism are themselves the perpetrators of discrimination and oppression,” he said. “This resolution is based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance. It will not change the reality of Israel’s existence, nor will it undermine the determination of the Jewish people to defend their country and their rights.”