Britain's Green Party votes to class Zionism as a form of racism

"The motion also restates the Green Party's backing for the ​right to self-determination and calls for the establishment of a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine," the ⁠party said in a statement.

The definition of Zionism – which inspired the foundation of the modern state of Israel in the 20th century – ​and what it implies for the rights of non-Jews in Israel and neighbouring territory, is contentious. Jewish groups sometimes define it as ​a right to Jewish self-determination.

The Green Party motion passed by a majority of 1,022 to 813 despite opposition from many senior figures. Party leader Zack Polanski, who is seeking election to Parliament on Thursday in former Prime Minister Keir Starmer's now-vacant London constituency, did not vote.

The result was condemned by British ​Jewish groups. "The Green Party has made antisemitism party policy and become a racist party," the Movement for Progressive Judaism said, adding that ​the support of some Jews for the motion did not mean it would not be used to discriminate against others.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has ‌decided to ⁠declare Polanski barred from entering Israel, the foreign ministry said in a post on X Sunday. It said the Green Party motion "constitutes a clear antisemitic text (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination," the ministry said.

Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party and a supporter of the motion, that the heavy Palestinian death ​toll in Israel's conflict with Hamas – ​which followed the Palestinian militant ⁠group's deadly 2023 attack on an Israeli music festival – was the key context for the vote. "The motion defines Zionism quite clearly.

It defines it as an ethnonationalist movement. It defines it as ethnic ​cleansing. It defines it as genocide," Ali said.

Britain's government views Israeli settlers' actions in the West ​Bank as amounting to ⁠ethnic cleansing but has said courts must decide if other Israeli actions qualify as genocide. Israel – which rejects claims of ethnic cleansing and genocide – called on Sunday for other British political parties to condemn the Green Party vote.

"The Greens have adopted not only the green of Hamas, but ⁠also its ​ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle," it said.

Polanski and ​other senior Green Party figures said they would "continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government," and that "there is no conflict between supporting the rights ​of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people. "