CAA investigators can reveal that Green Party members have rejected an amendment to the abhorrent “Zionism is Racism” motion which would have protected Jewish members who attend self-declared ‘Zionist’ organisations.
We obtained footage and an audio recording of the official workshop preparing for the motion in advance of the Green Party Conference this weekend, and we shared what we found exclusively with The Times.
During the meeting, which was held last week and open to all Party members, Jewish Oxford Greens member Sam Alston proposed the amendment.
He said it was necessary on the grounds that “the majority of Jewish institutions and the majority of Jews in the UK define themselves as Zionist” – which our representative polling of the Jewish community confirms – and warned that failure to do so would expose Jewish Greens to “indirect religious discrimination”.
Mr Alston further, if imaginatively, claimed that the motion discriminates against anti-Zionist Jews by equating Zionism and Judaism, citing the example of a member who immediately shouted “Zionist” when Mr Alston’s brother spoke earlier in the meeting.
The amendment was defeated by 67 votes to 24 in a straw poll.
This comes as the Green Party prepares to vote on the appalling motion at its conference this weekend. We stand ready to take legal action where necessary.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The overwhelming majority of British Jews identify as Zionists, and an even larger majority believe that anti-Zionism is antisemitic. Zionism is an essential part of modern Jewishness. When the motion was first mooted a few months ago – harkening back to the worst chapter in the UN’s history – we warned that it would introduce an official litmus test for Jewish people in a major political party. It would effectively declare Zionist Jews and mainstream British Jewish institutions to be inherently racist and would open the door to discrimination against them. Worse still, no purity test will ever satisfy extremists, which is likely why even a self-identifying anti-Zionist Jew did not escape abuse at this workshop.
“It is despicable that this motion has not been categorically rebuffed by Party leaders and its proposers expelled from the Greens. In fact, this week Zack Polanski indicated that he agrees with its antisemitic assertion that the Jewish belief in self-determination is racist. 76% of British Jews already believe that the Green Party is too tolerant of antisemitism, according to our representative polling. This workshop – and the motion itself, were it to pass – will do nothing to alter those perceptions”.
