Polanski speaks at the Greens’ annual party conference on 2 October in Brighton [Getty]
Israel has banned Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country after party members passed a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism.
In a statement on Sunday, the foreign ministry described the proposal as a “clear antisemitic text” that denies Jews the right to self-determination.
The motion, adopted at the party’s conference over the weekend, defines Israel as an “ethnonationalist Jewish state” and supports a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine”.
The issue has divided the party’s membership and its leaders, with Polanski and deputy leader Rachel Millward declining to back the motion. It was passed on Sunday with the support of 55% of members.
“The Green Party in Britain adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism, legitimising armed struggle against Israel, and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea’ – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel,” Israel’s foreign ministry said.
“As a first step, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has decided this evening to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from Israel.”
Polanski, himself Jewish, did not vote and left the conference to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, where he is standing in Thursday’s by-election.
He called for two amendments to safeguard Jewish members of Zionist synagogues and soften the motion’s position on the creation of a single Palestinian state. Both were rejected by members.
The adoption of the motion makes the Greens the first mainstream political party in the UK to define itself as anti-Zionist.
Proposed by Palestinian activist Lubna Speitan, it states that Zionism is responsible for “the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians”.
“Zionism has created and seeks to maintain – and where possible – expand, an apartheid regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, designed to cement the supremacy of on group, Jews, over another, Palestinians. As such, Zionism is racist,” it reads.
Deputy leader Mothin Ali endorsed the proposal ahead of the vote, saying it called for a democratic state that protects the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.
But most senior party figures voiced opposition, including four of its five MPs. Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer warned that it risked alienating Britain’s Jewish community, while Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay said they were “deeply saddened”.
Former leader Caroline Lucas had appealed to members to vote against the proposal, saying during the debate that it had left many Jewish members feeling “scared and unwelcome” in the party.
Following the vote, the party’s leadership and MPs issued a joint statement pledging to ensure the Greens remain 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,” it said.
Supporters of the motion celebrated its adoption, with its author, Speitan, describing the vote as a message against “occupation, oppression, genocide, apartheid, and racism”.
“This is hope for the future of our people, for the future of all oppressed, and sets an example and a precedent that we, as a people, are unified,” Speitan told The New Arab following the vote.
She also dismissed opposition from senior party figures, saying they were “entitled to their opinion” but “need to start listening to the members of the party if they want to keep the support and the vote and the trust of the people”.
