Britain’s Green Party convened Sunday to vote on a highly contentious motion that would define Zionism as a form of racism and call for the creation of a single Palestinian state across all of what it describes as “historic Palestine,” wording critics say would effectively mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
The motion has proved too far-reaching even for some of the party’s most outspoken critics of Israel, including Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish and describes himself as anti-Zionist. Polanski is expected to abstain.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, a Jewish anti-Zionist, recognizes Israelis’ and Palestinians’ right to exist but stops short of recognizing Israel’s right to exist
(Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)
The vote is taking place at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, against the backdrop of the Greens’ sharp rise in British opinion polls in recent years. Once a marginal political force, the party now ranks fourth or fifth in several recent surveys.
The proposal would add to official Green Party policy the position that Zionism is a form of racism because it supports what the motion calls an “ethno-national Jewish state.”
British media noted that, if approved, the measure could make the Greens the only mainstream European political party to define itself explicitly as anti-Zionist.
The motion also calls for the establishment of “one democratic Palestinian state across all of historic Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital” and demands sweeping boycotts and sanctions against Israel similar to those imposed on apartheid-era South Africa.
It argues that “Zionism has created, and seeks to maintain and, where possible, expand, a system of apartheid between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Green Party conference in Brighton yesterday, where a ‘safe room’ was set aside for Jewish members
(Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)
Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali, who has become one of the party’s most prominent anti-Israel voices over the past year, became the most senior party figure to endorse the motion.
Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Ali said he supported it “absolutely,” arguing that it addressed “ethnic cleansing and ethno-nationalism.”
“Anyone who believes in that, I think, believes in a racist ideology,” he said.
In an interview with Sky News, Ali added: “The ultimate form of racism is genocide, and therefore anyone who believes in carrying out genocide against human beings simply so that they themselves can live freely, that is racism.”
Polanski, meanwhile, said he plans to abstain from the vote but again declined in a BBC interview to say whether Israel has a right to exist.
Asked whether the call for a single Palestinian state amounted in practice to a demand for the elimination of Israel, Polanski said that was precisely why he wanted the motion amended.
“What I want to see is equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. “I don’t think we, as the Green Party of England and Wales, or even the British government, should determine what a future settlement looks like.”
Pressed on whether Israel has a right to exist, he replied: “I believe human beings have a right to exist. Israelis have a right to exist, and Palestinians have a right to exist. I think our job as political parties is to protect the rights of human beings, not to protect the rights of states.”
Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali: ‘Ethno-nationalism is a racist ideology’
(Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)
The Daily Mail, a right-leaning British tabloid frequently critical of the radical left, noted that three former Green leaders, Caroline Lucas, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer, had publicly opposed the motion.
Lucas, who in 2010 became Britain’s first Green member of Parliament, said she would not support it because of the risk that it would deepen divisions and be seen as signaling that Jews were not welcome in the party.
Denyer wrote on social media that adopting the proposal could “set us back” in efforts to support Palestinians and could alienate a large part of Britain’s Jewish community, including people who strongly oppose the Israeli government, support the BDS movement and advocate for Palestinian rights.
Amid claims that the issue was tearing the party apart, Polanski told the BBC that the Greens were “completely united” on the Palestinian issue.
Pro-Israel supporters near the conference venue yesterday. Organizers prepared for threats against Jewish members: ‘We’ve never encountered a situation like this’
(Photo: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)
He cited Palestinian casualty figures in Gaza and said the party agreed on the need to “stop the genocide” and halt British arms sales to Israel.
This year’s Green Party conference includes a series of events focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Among them was a panel titled “Palestine: The Golden Thread That Unravelled Britain,” moderated by an activist who took part in a Gaza flotilla and was detained by Israeli forces, as well as an event titled “Justice for Palestine” and a discussion on claims of Israeli “sportswashing.”
Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations were also held outside the conference venue.
The Daily Mail reported Sunday that, amid tensions inside the party, conference organizers had designated a “safe room” for Jewish members who might feel threatened.
A Jewish party member described the situation as “disturbing and deeply upsetting, but this is the reality.”
A senior Jewish figure in the party said: “I’ve been a member of the Green Party for years, but never, ever, have Jewish Greens had to endure a situation like this.”