Israel Bans Polanski After the Greens’ Zionism Vote
Israel’s foreign ministry has barred the Green leader Zack Polanski from entering the country after members voted 1,022 to 813 in Brighton for a motion defining Zionism as racism and backing a single state in all of historic Palestine. The ministry called it “a clear antisemitic text” and “a stain on the history of the United Kingdom”. Mr Polanski did not vote, having left to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said in a joint statement that “Zionism is anti-racism, creating a refuge for Jews in their ancient homeland after millennia of persecution outside it”, and that branding most British Jews and Jewish institutions racist “stokes anti-Jewish hatred after a year in which British Jews have been murdered attending their synagogue, stabbed in the streets, and seen their community buildings firebombed”. They singled out the leader “who neither spoke against the motion nor voted”. The party is visibly split: four of its five MPs opposed the motion, and Caroline Lucas urged members to reject “the over-simplification at the heart of this motion — a refusal to accept complexities which is leading to so many Jewish members feeling scared and unwelcome in our party”. The two deputy leaders took opposite sides, Mothin Ali backing it and Rachel Millward calling the wording problematic, and the chairwoman of Jewish Greens said she could consider her future in the party. Bridget Phillipson said the vote “crosses a line”; Chris Philp called the Greens “toxic to its core”. Under Green rules a members’ motion becomes policy but need not enter the manifesto. Watch Thursday, when Mr Polanski faces voters.