Top UK Jewish group declares Green Party racist after it rules Zionism is racism

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has voted overwhelmingly to declare the Green Party of England and Wales a racist party, following the party’s approval of a resolution describing Zionism as racism and calling for Israel to be replaced with a Palestinian state.

The board, an umbrella group for British Jews, passed the motion 118-1 at its October plenary meeting on Sunday. It means that the country’s representative Jewish body will treat the Greens as it would other parties it considers racist, and that political parties cooperating with the Greens would be seen as lax in fighting antisemitism.

The decision follows the Greens’ October 4 adoption of a resolution equating Zionism with racism, while effectively calling for the erasure of Israel. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, the most prominent Jewish critic of Israel in mainstream UK politics, neither spoke against the motion nor voted on it.

The resolution has been condemned by Jewish and Israeli leaders, along with the European Green Party and some members of the Green Party itself.

“Today’s decision reflects the profound concern across the Jewish community at a policy which brands a central element of Jewish identity as racist,” the Board of Deputies said in a statement. “For many British Jews, the connection to Israel is expressed through religious practice, family relationships, language, culture, and the belief that the Jewish people have the same right to national self-determination as any other peoples. Declaring that connection racist has consequences for Jewish participation in public life and the treatment of Jewish communal institutions.”

In its resolution, the Board of Deputies said it will view any party that cooperates politically with the Greens as “failing to take antisemitism with the requisite seriousness.” However, it “will engage with and support” any member of the party who rejects the “Zionism is racism” resolution and calls for it to be reversed, it added.

The resolution comes as the UK struggles to rein in antisemitism in its hospitals, universities, and other institutions. Last week, the UK adopted sweeping measures to combat antisemitism in English schools.

The resolution passed by the Green Party on October 4 claims that Zionism “privileges one ethnic group on the basis of the subjugation of others.”

According to its text, Zionism “will be treated as any other form of racism, and this motion will be implemented by the anti-racism policy working group as appropriate and in accordance with its ordinary practice.”

The motion also said that the “Green Party supports the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, equal rights for all, and the right of return for Palestinians and their descendants.”

The resolution “brands much of our community, including our synagogues and communal organizations, with that slur [of racism],” said Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg. “It gives prejudice against Jews a political license.”