Polanski also claimed in his speech that Green pressure had forced the government to toughen its stance on Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He praised Ed Miliband\u2019s Labour conference speech<\/a>, in which the foreign secretary told pro-Palestine campaigners \u201cyou were right,\u201d\u00a0saying it had left the Greens feeling \u201cvindicated\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThose who have been raising their voices against the atrocities in Gaza were right,\u201d he said, prompting Green members to rise to their feet inside the Brighton conference centre.<\/p>\n He\u00a0accused Labour of using the proscription of Palestine Action\u00a0as terrorist to crush dissent.<\/p>\n On the arrest of more than 150 people<\/a> in Liverpool who protested in support of the direct action group\u00a0outside Labour\u2019s conference this week, Polanski said: \u201cPrincipled people were being hauled away by the police\u2026 The sight of pensioners being put in handcuffs and bundled into police vans for holding up cardboard signs has been a stain on this country\u2019s reputation for far too long.<\/p>\n \u201cThose scenes are the awful symptom of a rot that runs much deeper. To a government so determined to crush dissent that it labels those with views it doesn\u2019t want to hear as terrorists. Terrorists.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd hundreds of Labour MPs who were willing to troop through the voting lobbies to approve it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know something? Our MPs didn\u2019t troop through the yes lobby. Our MPs were not\u00a0cowed by fear or malicious attacks in the press. They stood up for the principles we hold so dear.\u201d<\/p>\n Polanski presented his party\u00a0as having the ability to push government policy to the left between elections.<\/p>\n \u201cAt general elections, the government changes. But between general elections, we change the government.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to Green MP Ellie Chowns, whose work he said led to the government\u2019s ban on trade<\/a> with settlements in the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cOur MP Ellie Chowns has demanded our government end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.<\/p>\n “A few weeks ago, Ed Miliband took the first long overdue step in the right direction by banning trade with illegal settlements. Necessary, by the way, but not nearly sufficient. The pattern is clear. Vote Green and watch Labour move.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have held the worst instincts of the Labour government in check\u201d.<\/p>\n