Opinion · Euroglobal New
The chair of Jewish Greens Vivien Lichtenstein has told the BBC it is "quite possible" she will leave the party after Green members adopted a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism. The motion, which has divided senior party figures, also backs a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine", which includes modern-day Israel. It has been criticised by some Jewish groups and Israel's foreign ministry.
Asked by BBC Radio 4's Today programme about her future, Lichtenstein said: "I haven't decided yet...It is quite possible that I will leave the party...I'm giving it a little time and to talk with colleagues." Lichtenstein, who is a former chair of her local party, said she had opposed the motion from the first time she heard about it. "I don't think it's helpful and it doesn't make any difference whatsoever to Palestinians in Gaza who have suffered devastation, orphans left behind, it doesn't make any difference to Palestinians in the West Bank who are currently suffering, are currently being attacked and killed." Members of the Green Party of England and Wales endorsed the policy motion, which was put forward by a group of activists at the party's conference in Brighton, by 1,022 votes to 813. There are 230,000 members of the Green party overall and not everyone attended the conference.
The party's leader Zack Polanski, who is himself Jewish, had called for the motion to be amended to add in protections for Jewish members and remove language referring to a "single democratic Palestinian State". Both of these amendments were defeated. Polanski did not stay at conference to vote on either this or the substantive motion.
He left early to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, where he is standing in a by-election to be the MP. A full list of candidates in the contest can be found here . The motion, among other statements, "supports the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, equal rights for all, and the right of return for Palestinians and their descendants".
It defines Zionism as an ideology supporting "an ethnonationalist Jewish state". The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, which criticised the motion, said "Zionism is anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it". Lichtenstein said she defines herself as "both Zionist and anti-Zionist" depending on the definition, and said a problem with the motion is that there are many definitions.
She said she was not concerned about "people accusing me of supporting Israel's right to exist and therefore I'm a racist, which of course is not the case", but said the "very bad motion...crosses a line". One way in which it did that, she said, was that the proposers said they had consulted some Jews, but did not consult the Jewish Greens, who would have made some amendments to improve the motion. She said there was a "vast range" of opinions among Jewish Greens, some who supported the motion entirely, others who supported aspects, and others who were against it.
Some Jewish Greens also support one state, she added. She said that party policy was that "it's up to Israelis and Palestinians to choose their future - one state or two". The UK and 11 allies support a two-state solution , which would recognise a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli one.
Israel rejects a two-state solution. Her concern with the motion was that the Green Party may accuse UK, Israeli, or Jewish organisations, including those that partner with Palestinians, of racism. She said she supports many of these groups working "against the occupation and even go out on the ground to assist Palestinians".
She said she knows of some non-Jews who are planning on not staying in the party because "they think the motion crosses a line" and also because of their work, if they might not be able to be associated with a party that has "Zionism is racism" as a policy. Asked whether she believed there were antisemites inside the party, including at senior levels, she said "there are certainly some antisemites in the party, I don't know about at senior level, that is not my experience". In response to the motion, Israel's foreign ministry said it had banned Polanski from entering the country.
A Green spokeswoman insisted the party would protect Jewish members - and they would not be persecuted for attending synagogues which defined themselves as Zionist. Speaking after the vote, Lubna Speitan, the Green member behind the motion, argued its backers wanted to voice opposition to "racist systems of oppression". "We stand united against all forms of racism and discrimination - no exemptions," she added.
Four of the party's five MPs - Ellie Chowns, Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer, Sian Berry - had publicly opposed it, but the leadership was divided. In her interview on the Today programme on Friday, co-deputy leader Rachel Millward had called the motion "problematic", while her counterpart Mothin Ali told the BBC on Saturday he would support the motion in its original form. The Movement for Progressive Judaism, one of the largest and most liberal strands of Judaism in the UK, released a statement condemning the motion, which it said was "antisemitic in its formulation and intention".
"Jewish self-determination is a right. Declaring it racist is an attack on Jews," the statement read. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis also called the motion "poisonous antisemitism, a threat to British Jews and to Britain".
The Green Party motion said it "rejects attempts" to - among other things - "equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism" and said "we affirm that definitions of anti-Jewish discrimination should not equate Jewish identity with Zionist ideology or political practice". Opposition parties pushed back against the motion. Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the vote "crosses a line" and called on Polanski to "make clear that this will not be their position moving forwards".
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the motion on behalf of the Conservatives, saying it demonstrated the Green Party was "toxic to its core". Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor said the "divisive" motion did not address "the rising threats" of Islamophobia and antisemitism in the UK.
Source: BBC
