Burnham calls on Polanski to reverse Green Party's Zionism motion
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has publicly criticized the Green Party for passing a motion that labels Zionism as a form of racism. The controversy has impacted the party's by-election campaign in Holborn and St Pancras.
Why it matters
The internal conflict highlights deep political divisions regarding the definition of Zionism and the party's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Image source, Getty Images By Ewan Somerville Political reporter Published 15 minutes ago Andy Burnham has called on Green leader Zack Polanski to reverse a motion passed by members of his party declaring Zionism a form of racism.
The prime minister said the motion, approved on Sunday at the party's conference in Brighton, was "completely wrong" and showed "terrible judgement".
The motion defined Zionism as an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state" and backed a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine", which includes modern-day Israel.
In the wake of the vote, Polanski has said he would not accept anyone being excluded from the Green Party "because of the religious or communal body they are part of".
The Green leader has declined media interviews since the motion was passed and did not answer questions from a BBC reporter about the motion ahead of Burnham's comments.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in