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Jewish Voice for Liberation

Some Rational reactions to the Green Party passing “that” motion

Published by Leah Levane

Co Chair Jewish Voice for Liberation

JVL Introduction

Perhaps it is time to take stock.  The news has been dominated by one motion passed at the Green Party conference as though it was the only thing that happened.  The motion was controversial but was not censored, removed from the agenda as would, doubtless, happen in most other Parties.  There is a commitment to democracy and to debating difficult “controversial” issues.

Passing the motion that Zionism Is Racism has been met with hysteria.  This is not at all surprising and the attacks are still coming. On the morning after the election Zack Polanski was interviewed on the BBC’s flagship Today programme with aggression and demands for a “yes/no” answer, eg for the Does Israel have the right to exist question when Zack Polanski wanted to address questions in a more nuanced way.  (On the same programme the same interviewer quizzed and even challenged Tom Watson about his taking up a post for Palantir, However, it was very friendly and Watson was allowed to answer in his own time and, eg skirt the question about Palantir and ICE on the basis that the contracts were originally made a few Presidents ago!)

Meanwhile some Labour MPs have reported the Green Party to the EHRC, Israel has banned Zack Polanski from entering Israel, the Chef Rabbi has condemned the motion as “poisonous antisemitism” and went on to say that the party’s new policy is a “threat to British Jews and to Britain”. – but without an explanation as to why.

This is all oh so familiar: those of us who were enthusiastic about the Labour Party under Corbyn must defend the Green Party on this issue even if we do not generally support the Greens or, indeed the motion. Rachel Milward, one of the two Deputy Leaders of the Party opposed the motion but has still not thrown Zack Polanski “under the bus”.  It is those hysterically (over) reacting to the motion who are conflating Jews and Zionism, Jews with Israel and not the proposers of the motion.

We must urge the Party not to succumb to the sorts of pressures- from within and without – the Party to apologise, to back down.  These pressures were thrown at the Labour Party and apologising did not result in any easing of pressure but rather intensified it, if anything. Jews have  no reason to be afraid of such a policy or of the Green Party any more than they had reason to be afraid of a Corbyn led Labour Party.  And Palestinians have much to fear if the brutal reality of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is not named, blamed, shamed and stopped.

So we publish a few rational reactions and that are supportive of the Green Party decision to adopt a clear anti Zionist position and to call for action to be taken to bring equality and justice to all who live between the river and the sea. Not all of them are unquestioningly supportive of the motion, for example, but they are rational  and balanced rather than hysterical reactions that I hope will be useful for countering some of the attacks that have come and will continue to come.

We are not surprised by the reaction from the Establishment to a motion about the racism Palestinians experience as a result not only of actual , living Zionism, but its historical roots too.  While this does not mean that everyone who considers themselves a Zionist or everyone who supports the idea of a Jewish State as a counter to centuries of Jewish oppression, pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust is motivated by racism but the reality for Palestinians of living with Zionism has been discriminatory at best and murderous at worst. For many years Arab Jews in Israel were also discriminated against, with strong efforts to crush the culture which was, unsurprisingly, closer to Palestinians than to European Jews.

I encourage you first to watch this a video:  Zionism Is Racism: THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! Richard Sanders EXPOSES Green Party Smears | Double Down News on Patreon

This is a link to a piece by Ilan Pappe on Zeteo (and apologies that this is behind a paywall) ‘Zionism Is Racism’: Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe Dissects the Outrage but he notes that “The hysterical reaction by politicians and the media to the Green Party’s ‘Zionism is Racism’ policy is ignorant, manipulative – and entirely predictable. The Greens are on the right side of history.”

This is from a social media post from Annie Cohen who is a member of the Green Party. 

Weighing in on the current meshugas (craziness) over the Green Party and the Zionism is Racism motion. For context, I am one of the Communications Officers for Jewish Greens, although this post represents my personal views.
Reading the news, it would be easy to believe that the Green Party has adopted a policy to expel its Jewish members, prevent them from attending synagogue or at the very least scrutinise their activities outside the party. *None of that has happened.*
The Party conference voted through a motion that declares Zionism *as it defines it* to be a form of racism. It also adds a few practical demands to the Party’s existing position on Palestine, notably the call for the creation of a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all.
The motion defines Zionism as “a political ideology which called for the creation – and, now it exists, the continuity – of an ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population”.
It states “the real, material manifestation of Zionism has been the historic and ongoing dehumanisation, displacement, dispossession, disenfranchisement and destruction of Palestinians … based upon European settler-colonial systems of domination and oppression”.
It also notes that these systems of oppression have “also created racial hierarchies between Jews of different ethnicities in Palestine.”
Most importantly in the context of the current media storm, the motion states that “This motion is aimed at the political ideology and practice of Zionism, as defined, and not at the religious or ethnic background of those who may identify as Zionists. Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews.”
The motions’ drafters have stated elsewhere that they do not accept that there are non-racist forms of Zionism, however, other definitions of Zionism – for example, if you call yourself a Zionist because of a dedication to some other form of Jewish national life or peoplehood—are not covered by this motion and thus not declared racist.
The motion’s drafters have also made clear that this motion will not be used to target Jews or anyone who attend or have affiliations with Zionist institutions like synagogues, most of which in the UK describe themselves as Zionist. That the motion will not and cannot be used to scrutinise or penalise Jews for their affiliations outside of the Party has now been reiterated by the leadership of the Green Party.
Much ado has been made about an amendment to safeguard Jewish members that was voted down at the conference. What is missing from this conversation is that many Jewish members of the Party strongly objected to this amendment, and this was made clear during the debate, before the amendment was voted on.
The amendment conflated Jews and Zionism in a way that the motion itself is careful not to do. The motion does not suggest that going to synagogue makes someone a Zionist, and the drafters of the motion have made it clear that “association with or involvement with an institution” should not be conflated with “actively promoting a specific ideology that institution may support.”
It is the amendment and not the motion that suggested that, because most synagogues and Jewish institutions in the UK describe themselves as Zionist, anyone involved with these institutions—i.e. anyone who leads an active Jewish communal life—might be assumed to subscribe to the racist political Zionism described in the motion. This would be an incredibly dangerous assertion to insert into Green Party policy and I and many other Jewish members voted against it and urged others to do so.
The amendment was also unnecessary, because this is not a motion that changes the party’s disciplinary procedure. While the authors of the motion have already stated that it is not their intention that the motion be used to penalise Jews or anyone else for their associations and activities outside the party, it also cannot be used that way. This was made clear prior to conference and has now once again been re-stated by Party leadership.
I am not saying that there is nothing to be criticised about this motion, I myself have been very torn over it as I know many other members of the Party have been, including I’m sure its leadership. But I’m noticing that there is some vital information missing in much of the discussion around it.
First and foremost, *this motion was written by Palestinians* with the support of anti-Zionist Jewish allies (I was not one of the authors of the motion), and that is how it was presented to Party members, as a motion that represents Palestinian members of the Party.
Many have said, and I’ve tended to agree, that declaring “Zionism is racism” provokes an unnecessary, controversial ideological argument instead of focusing on power structures and practical measures of solidarity. But Palestinians are asking us to recognise that Zionism is racism, and this debate is not isolated to the Green Party.
We—especially those of us who are Jewish or have a relationship with Zionism—have a responsibility to listen to them, not to dismiss their position as an unnecessary distraction, and certainly not as an antisemitic measure. *This motion is not about Jews, it is about Palestinians.*
On Monday I was interviewed on Radio 5 live as a member of the Jewish Greens committee. I was interviewed alongside a Rabbi who painted a rosy picture of Zionism as a noble ideology that sought to rescue Jews from persecution and recover our ancient homeland and of Israel as a uniquely democratic and moral state.
As I listened back to the interview I found myself once again thinking “this is why this motion exists.” The fact that three years into a live-streamed genocide, it is still possible for someone to go on the BBC and talk about the country committing that genocide as a moral and admirable project.
Many—including many Jewish communal leaders—define Zionism as “the Jewish right to self determination.” Let’s be crystal clear. The right to self determination cannot, by definition, come at the expense of another people’s right to self determination.
No people, no matter how persecuted, has the right to create a national state in a land that is another people’s home. Yet Palestinians are forced to endure this definition of Zionism as a valid “Jewish right to self determination”, when this “right” has come at the price of their expulsion and destruction.
This motion is just one example of how Palestinians are fighting back and asking for us to recognise the realities of Zionism as they have experienced it. One of the authors of the motion has lost over 40 members of their family in three years in the Israeli genocide.
Yet the story all over the news is about whether or not Jews are safe in the Green Party. That is not the story. Let’s not let it be the story

From the Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Solidarity with the Green Party and its members

PSC extends its solidarity to the Green Party of England and Wales and its members who are facing a barrage of media smears and abuse following their democratic conference decision to pass the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion.  

This is not new. The Green Party has been subject to consistent attack from supporters of Israeli apartheid due to its track record of standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people. Under its current leadership, this principled stance has helped to carry the party to unprecedented success, winning more votes and electing more MPs, councillors and mayors than ever before. 

The motion supports the call from Palestinian civil society to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel similar to those applied to apartheid South Africa and calls for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, the de-proscription of Palestine Action and the release of all those currently imprisoned in Britain for nonviolent direct action in support of Palestinian rights – all of which we fully endorse.  

It also formally declares the party to be anti-Zionist and calls for the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine. 

PSC is an anti-Zionist organisation. As a solidarity campaign, it is our core aim to support the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice – to end the systems of oppression that prevent the Palestinian people from realising their inalienable rights, including their right to self-determination and right of return. Our longstanding policy, shaped in dialogue with our Palestinian partners, is that it is for the Palestinian people as a whole, rather than the solidarity movement in Britain, to decide what form Palestinian self-determination should take, but this does not diminish our opposition to Zionism. 

Critics of the Green Party motion have stated that Zionism is nothing more than the desire for self-determination for Jewish people. That is just not true. Zionism as a political project has been used to justify over a century of Palestinian dispossession and continues to underpin Israel’s genocide in Gaza today. Palestine was never ‘a land without a people.’ Zionism’s founding ideology and political movement entailed the violent colonisation of Palestine and the establishment of a ‘Jewish state’ by removing or eliminating the indigenous Palestinian population from some or all of their homeland. Since its creation, consecutive Israeli governments have enacted a raft of policies that aim to take control of the maximum amount of land with the minimum number of Palestinians, denying their fundamental rights. No other interpretation is consistent with the history and reality of Zionism. Anti-Zionism is our opposition to that project and support for the rights of the Palestinian people. 

Any political project that relies on ethnic cleansing, settler-colonialism and the imposition of a system of apartheid, which Zionism fundamentally does, and which is responsible for genocide, is self-evidently racist. We welcome the decision of Green Party conference to declare this truth.  

We send our solidarity to the Green Party and its members in the face of these smears. Together, we must continue to build the broadest possible movement in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and for a complete end to all British diplomatic, economic, political and military support for Israel’s crimes. 

Join us on Saturday 10 October when we march in London to mark the horrific milestone of three years since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

End the genocide 

Stop arming Israel 

Full sanctions now

This is a Facebook post from Ben Sellers:

My own view, I think uncontroversial & no doubt shared by the vast majority of people on both sides of the Green Party vote, is that it is the Palestinian people who must decide their own future. Of course, the Palestine solidarity movement here in the UK will have a view, but it is not down to us, but them.

What that will mean in practice is the creation of some sort of democratic process, whereby the collective views of the Palestinian people, in Gaza & the West Bank, can be heard & acted upon.

That might sound neat, but it is obviously not. Even if a process can be found & agreed on, there is a long road ahead, precisely because of the destruction of infrastructure, communities & lives – not just over the period of genocide that we’ve just witnessed, but over decades of occupation, displacement, apartheid, ethnic cleansing.

So, first, there must be an end to that. An end to the starvation of their people, an end to occupation of their land, the withdrawal of the IDF from those lands, an end to military operations, including bombing, an end to the blockade of Gaza, the freeing of prisoners of conscience, an end to settlements, raids & oppression in the West Bank, an end to brutalisation & surveillance. That must be the starting point

From Tim Llewellyn , former BBC Foreign Correspondent.  (also on social media) 
“The mainstream British media, led in ditheringly confused interpretations by the BBC and The Guardian, are in a massive tut-tutting tizzy about Zack Polanski, leader of The Green Party, who has actually made a good showing in a London by-election in a very safe Labour seat. He came second to Labour, whose majority was much reduced.
But Polanski is msm Enemy of the People because his party voted in favour of the motion Zionism is Racism. A statement of blinding obviousness and rigorously moral common sense. One line of criticism, offered up by Israel’s multitude of agents and twisters, and repeated by Polanski’si Green predecessor Caroline Luckless, is that there are many forms of Zionism and therefore its just plain antisemitic to approve this definition.
There is only ONE form of Zionism that matters, Caroline, and that’s the one set out in plain text many times before and since this Jewish settler colonial enterprise was launched more than a century ago, and given effective force by Britain.
This decrees that Jews and only Jews should inhabit and rule Palestine ( borders to be defined later) and any non-Jews who manage to survive within Zion will be at best second-class citizens.
That is racism. It could not be clearer. And despite or maybe even because of the genocide of the Gazan Palestinians of the past three years, and the brutal pogroms and clearances of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, that racism is made more and more manifest with the enthusiastic approval of most Israeli Jews and their political leaders.
The uproar, dithering, lies, dissimulations and obfuscation about this in the same organs that touted Starmer, misrepresented Corbyn and parlayed a steady stream of Zionist tripe during the past decade are inevitable and amoral and…useless.

The truth is out and it is believed widely and Israel as it is now formulated and existing is on the skids.”

This from Novara Media one of very few places where you can read a reaction by a Palestinian person: most of the media is focused on what they label as “Jewish sensititivities” rather than the murderous acts being done in Jewish people’s name. Their headline was: The UK’s first mainstream party to become explicitly anti-Zionist.

Green party members have voted to back a motion stating that Zionism is racism, making the Greens the first explicitly anti-Zionist mainstream political party in the UK.

The motion, which was heard at the party’s largest ever conference in Brighton and passed by 1,022 votes to 813, also called on the party to back a single, democratic Palestinian state, to demand freedom for Palestinian political prisoners, oppose the Palestine Action ban and affirm Palestinians’ right to resistance.

An amendment to mitigate the risk that the motion could be used to target Jewish members affiliated with Zionist institutions was voted down. Supporters claim it wasn’t necessary, as the motion already separates Judaism from Zionism, and it will have no disciplinary impact as it is a political policy motion rather than one to do with internal party procedures.

Gully, a Green party member whose father is Palestinian and whose mother is an Israeli Jew, told Novara Media: “Zionism is racism. It is a racist ideology… Look back at history. Look at the thinking behind Zionism and tell me it is not an ethnonationalist project.

“Every time you confuse Zionism with Judaism, you increase the risk that people think being Jewish means you support the ethnic cleansing and genocide, the checkpoints and the humiliation that my father and millions of Palestinians are subject to everyday.”

The vote followed a conference weekend in which the motion was a controversial issue, with tensions running high.

On Saturday, dozens of pro-Israel demonstraters shouted at party members as they entered the conference centre. Chants included “There is no Palestine, there is no Palestine”, with some protesters holding signs reading “Anti Zionism = terrorism” and handing out leaflets claiming “The Green party is now the most racist party in Britain”.

Senior Green figures were split on the motion. While co-deputy leader Mothin Ali spoke in favour of it on Sunday, former leader Caroline Lucas spoke against, with co-deputy leader Rachel Millward telling Sky News it was “problematic” earlier in the weekend.

Green leader Zack Polanski did not vote, as he was campaigning in Holborn and St Pancras, central London, where he is standing in a byelection on Thursday in the hope of becoming the party’s sixth MP.

Green party policy already describes Israeli conduct as apartheid and genocide, backs a full arms embargo, sanctions and an end to occupation and illegal settlements, as well as a ban on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a terror group.

Motions voted for by members at conferences set the Green party’s long-term vision and policy platform. They do not determine election manifestos.

Clare Hymer is head of articles at Novara Media.

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