Israel Bars Green Leader Zack Polanski After Party Votes 'Zionism Is Racism'
Gideon Sa'ar's ban follows a 1,022-813 conference vote that split Green MPs and drew fire from Jewish groups and Labour
3 min read
File photo: Green Party leader Zack Polanski in October 2023, when he was a London Assembly member. Photo: London Assembly, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Israel has barred Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country after Green members voted to declare Zionism a form of racism, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry, the BBC and the Press Association.
Members at the party's conference in Brighton backed the motion on Sunday by 1,022 votes to 813. Polanski did not vote, having left the conference early to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Israel: "a clear antisemitic text"
In a statement on Sunday evening, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the resolution "constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, as it denies the Jewish people's right to self-determination", PA reported.
"Therefore, as a first step, foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar has decided this evening to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel," the statement said.
The ministry earlier said the motion went beyond "the boundaries of legitimate political debate" and was "a stain on the history of the United Kingdom", according to the BBC.
What the motion says
The motion defines Zionism as an ideology in support of "an ethnonationalist Jewish state" and backs a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine", the BBC reported. Members rejected two amendments favoured by Polanski, including one to protect Jewish members who attend synagogues that describe themselves as Zionist.
Lubna Speitan, the member behind the motion, said: "We stand united against all forms of racism and discrimination - no exemptions."
A Green Party spokesperson said this type of motion does not have a "material impact on governance or disciplinary procedures", according to PA.
Party split and backlash
Four of the party's five MPs had publicly opposed the motion. After the vote, Polanski, the MPs and deputy leaders issued a joint statement saying there was "no conflict between supporting the rights of Palestinians and the rights of Jewish people".
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council called the motion an "attack on the Jewish community".
Labour chair Bridget Phillipson said: "It is shameful to vote against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and to condemn the vast majority of British Jews and Jews around the world as racist for supporting Israel's right to exist."
Asked about the motion on Friday, Polanski said, according to the BBC: "If your Zionism is the displacement of the Palestinian people then that is clearly racist, and I say that as a Jewish leader of a British political party."
Under Green Party rules, motions backed by members become party policy but will not necessarily appear in the next general election manifesto.
