The co-leader of the Scottish Greens has described Zionism as racist, after the claim was adopted as Green Party policy south of the border.

Ross Greer said, while he did not agree with all parts of a motion passed at the England and Wales Green Party conference, he considered the creation of Israel to have been “an act of racism”.

Some Jewish groups have called the Green Party motion an “attack on the Jewish community”, while Israel’s foreign ministry said it was “a stain on the history of the United Kingdom”.

Senior Green figures have been divided on the issue, with the European Green Party seeking to “unequivocally distance” itself from the vote.

Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East.

The Green motion defined it as an ideology supporting “an ethnonationalist Jewish state”. It also backed a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine”.

In response, Jewish groups described Zionism as “anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it”.

Asked if he considered Zionism to be racism, Greer answered: “Yes.”

He told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: “You cannot give superior rights in law to one ethnic or religious group. Everybody has to be treated equally before the law, and the reality right now is that that’s not the case.

“One group’s superiority has got to the point where a genocide is being committed against another group.

“I want Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians, everybody to live equally in safety, in peace.”

He added: “Jewish people deserve to live in safety, but the creation of the state of Israel was an act of ethnic cleansing.

“It was an act of racism, and I don’t understand how how people can say it wasn’t.”

Greer said his party agreed with some parts of the motion and disagreed with others – noting that he would not take a position on whether there should be a “two-state solution” in the Middle East.

He also condemned “horrific war crimes” committed by Hamas against Israelis.

Earlier this year, a UN commission of inquiry said Israel had deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s foreign ministry denied the claims and described the report as a “libellous sham”.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay described Greer’s comments as “disgusting and dangerous”.

He told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: “The Scottish Greens are no longer hiding their view that they don’t think Israel has a right to exist.

“This anti-Israel obsession has been normalised. The Jewish community in Scotland are living in fear and being blamed for the actions of the Israeli government.”

First Minister John Swinney told BBC Scotland News on Monday that he did not agree with the Green Party motion.

He said: “There are very well established definitions in law of what constitutes racism and I think we should stick by those definitions and not come up with definitions at party political conferences.”

Responding to the Green Party conference vote, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said:

“Branding most British Jews and Jewish institutions ‘racist’ stokes anti-Jewish hatred after a year in which British Jews have been murdered attending their synagogue, stabbed in the streets, and seen their community buildings firebombed.”

The European Green Party, of which the Green Party for England and Wales is a member, has said it wanted to “unequivocally distance” itself from the motion.

The umbrella body said it would “immediately demand clarity” from the party’s leadership on how they would protect Jewish people and self-determination.

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, did not participate in the conference debate or vote on the motion.

Polanski, who is Jewish, has said that “antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct”.

Four of the party’s five MPs opposed the motion.

Green MP Ellie Chowns told Radio 4’s PM programme that she was “deeply saddened” that the motion had become Green Party policy in England and Wales.

However, she disagreed it was antisemitic, saying it was underpinned by “principled opposition to the actions of the Israeli government”.

She noted that “less than 1%” of the party’s more than 200,000 members had participated in the vote.