Tensions exposed among Greens by 'Zionism is racism' conference vote
The UK Green Party is facing internal division and international backlash after a conference vote declared Zionism to be racism. While party members supported the motion, several high-profile Green MPs and leaders have publicly opposed the stance.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the tension between grassroots party democracy and the political pragmatism required by elected officials in the UK.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Henry Zeffman Chief political correspondent Getty Images It is not exactly typical for a British party conference, let alone that of one of the smaller parties, to elicit international condemnation.
Yet that is the position the Green Party of England and Wales is in today after Israel's foreign ministry said it was banning their leader, Zack Polanski, from entering the country.
The cause was the motion proposed by party members and adopted by the conference on Sunday, declaring Zionism, which is the belief in the right to a Jewish homeland, to be racism.
The Green motion describes Zionism as an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state", and supports instead a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine".
Also covering this story
5 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
Israel lashes out as UK’s Green Party formally defines Zionism as ‘racism’
Britain’s Green Party votes to class Zionism as a form of racism
Green Party members back 'Zionism is racism' motion
Britain’s Green Party votes to class Zionism as a form of racism
Green party votes to adopt policy that equates Zionism with racism
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