Britain's Green Party votes to class Zionism as a form of racism

The UK's Green Party has voted to define Zionism as a form of racism. The party's members backed the motion at their annual conference, with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against, according to the New Straits Times and South China Morning Post. The motion defines Zionism as an ideology in support of an ethnonationalist Jewish state and commits the party to supporting a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine.

The decision has drawn criticism from British Jewish groups and the Israeli government. The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council, among others, had written to the party ahead of the vote, arguing that Zionism is an anti-racist movement that was formed in part as a response to antisemitism. The Israeli government has also condemned the move, saying it now views the Green Party as a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism, according to Al-Monitor.

The Green Party's leader, Zack Polanski, has faced challenges in recent months, with polls showing a decline in his popularity following several missteps. The party has five MPs in Britain's 650-seat parliament and has enjoyed a surge in popularity under Polanski's charismatic leadership, attracting voters dissatisfied with the centre-left Labour government's stance on the Israel-Gaza war, according to the New Straits Times and South China Morning Post.

Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, New Straits Times, South China Morning Post, BBC News, Arutz Sheva - Israel National News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.