The Green Party of England and Wales has voted to declare Zionism a form of racism in an unprecedented move at its party conference in Brighton, Middle East Eye has learnt.
The vote by party members on Sunday makes it the first major party in the UK to recognize Zionism as a form of racism – and to back a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all ethnic and religious groups, rather than a two-state solution.
1,022 members voted for the motion while 813 voted against it.
Co-Deputy Leader Mothin Ali told Middle East Eye on Sunday that he was strongly in favor of the motion, unlike Green MPs Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, who criticized[as1] it.
“As defined in the motion,” Ali said, “Zionism is an ethno-nationalist state. Zionism is resulting in ethnic cleansing, in the belief that one group of people is superior to another.”
He added: “Now I’m a committed anti-racist. I got involved in politics through the anti-racist and anti-war movement. And since then, I’ve got a real understanding of what racism looks like, whether it’s structural, whether it’s personal.
“The belief that one group of people is superior to another, I just can’t accept that.”
Green members voted against an amendment to the motion saying it “shall not be used to pressure, proscribe or discipline members based on affiliation with Jewish community institutions, such as synagogues, community centers or denominational groups, that describe themselves as Zionist or used to discipline or sanction Jewish members for expressing views that would be non-sanctionable if expressed by non-Jewish members (such as support for a binational state, or two state solution).”
But members voted for an amendment supporting the “inalienable right to self-determination” for Palestinians, party insiders told MEE.
Ali told MEE on Sunday morning he believed the motion would shift political discourse in Britain. “In 2024 the Green Party recognised the genocide that was taking place in Gaza, before any other major political party.
“So we’ve always led on this subject, we’ve led on the subject of human rights, regardless of where it is. We’re bringing other political parties with us. We’re encouraging the debate to happen in society.”
‘Motion safeguards Jewish people’
Before the start of the conference, it was widely reported that Jewish members of the Green Party who belong to synagogues that identified as Zionist could face internal disciplinary procedures.
Lubna Speitan, a British Palestinian and the lead author of the motion, told MEE on Saturday this was wrong. She explained the motion is an “E-Motion,” meaning it concerns external matters and has no bearing on internal processes.
“We’ve made explicitly clear in the motion that not all Jews are Zionist and not all Zionists are Jewish,” she said.
The motion was endorsed by prominent Holocaust survivor and activist Stephen Kapos, who said he believed that “Zionism both as an ideology and practice is harmful and has no legitimacy and must be rejected.”
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