UK chief rabbi condemns Green Party motion defining Zionism as racism

• Green Party members had approved the motion by 1,022 votes to 813.
• Four of the party’s five MPs publicly opposed the measure.

UK Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has condemned Monday a Green Party motion defining Zionism as a form of racism, calling it “poisonous antisemitism” and a “threat to British Jews and to Britain.”

The motion was approved at the Green Party’s annual conference in Brighton on Sunday by 1,022 votes to 813. It declares the party “anti-Zionist” and says Zionism should be “treated as any other form of racism.” It also backs the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state across historic Palestine, with equal rights for all.

Mirvis said he was “appalled” by the decision, accusing the party of reviving what he described as a “discredited and dangerous slander” associated with the Soviet Union.

His comments came after ‘Israel’ barred Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country in response to the motion. ‘Israel’s’ foreign ministry described the text as antisemitic and said it legitimised the destruction of ‘Israel’.

Polanski did not participate in the vote after leaving the conference to campaign ahead of a parliamentary by-election. Following the vote, he joined the party’s MPs in saying the Greens would oppose discrimination and continue to support Palestinian rights alongside the rights of Jewish people.

Read more: UK Green Party adopts “Zionism is racism” policy