Green Party adopts motion declaring Zionism a form of racism

Green Party members in England and Wales have voted to adopt as official policy a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism.

• Members at the party's Brighton conference voted 1,022 to 813 to adopt the motion as official policy.
• The motion also commits the party to backing a single democratic Palestinian state, after amendments favoured by leader Zack Polanski were rejected.
• Polanski said Zionism, as defined in the motion as the displacement and genocide of Palestinians, is clearly racism.
• Jewish groups, including the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council, said Zionism was formed as an anti-racist response to antisemitism.
• The motion calls for supporting Palestinian liberation, the right of return, boycott and sanctions, and a full arms embargo on Israel.
• Israel's Foreign Ministry condemned the decision and urged British political parties to reject it.
• Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the Green Party's motion declaring Zionism a form of racism an 'antisemitic lie'
• Israel's Foreign Ministry also accused the party of adopting Hamas's ideology as part of its condemnation
• Green Party leader Zack Polanski abstained from the vote on adopting the motion as policy
• The majority of the Green Party's MPs opposed the motion, revealing internal divisions over the vote.
• British politicians and Jewish organizations warned the decision could alienate Jewish members and deepen tensions.
• The Green Party became the first major European party to adopt a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism.