“Zionism really is racism – the Green Party are right”
JVL Introduction
Few if any have a longer and stronger commitment to green causes than Jonathan Porritt, a former Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83) and Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90) and much else besides.
So when he criticises Zack Polanski for claiming that “the Green Party’s new policy on ‘Zionism is Racism’ is ‘not controversial’ is absurd,” it is worth looking further.
It is indeed massively controversial, avers Porritt. But what Zack meant and should have said is this: it should not be controversial!
As Porritt say, “Our collective complicity in what is going on in Palestine today is utterly staggering, wilfully condoning Israeli’s conflation of criticism of Zionism with anti-Semitism.”
He expresses some concerns about certain formulations in the motion with regard to a single Palestinian state, or which have allowed totally unjustified accusations of antisemitism to be levelled against the Party.
But he rejects such accusations as utterly without foundation. And while understanding those for whom Zionism is/was a benign and aspirational ideal, he asks how anyone can relate this to “the evidence that this ideal has been systematically betrayed since the Nakba in 1948”.
“Zionism is a political ideology, not a religion. Not an ethnic group. As such, of course Zionism today is racism.”
The party needs to be united about this.
This article was originally published by Jonathan Porritt's blog on Fri 23 Oct 2026. Read the original here.
Zionism really is racism – the Green Party are right
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Really excellent and helpful. Well done!
Thank you Jonathan – a very clear analysis and support for Zack to keep going, and for us all to support him.
When Zionists or any Jewish people claim to be “God’s Chosen People”, singled out for special treatment come the end of the world they are exhibiting racism: to claim superiority for a grouping of any kind is basic racism. As is to base rights over all others to ownership of land on ‘God’s word’ thousands of years ago demands belief beyond belief. The rule of law is the law based on justice and truth and is the one widely accepted, if not widely or consistently adhered to. The same God is said to have ordered the Jewish people to mete out total destruction of everything and every Amalek man woman child baby and all their animals, much in the way the present day Israelis are operating genocide on the Palestinians. I wonder if the same God approves of this current slaughter?