Green Party to debate motion defining Zionism as racism

Green Party conference delegates are due to debate a motion titled “Zionism is Racism,” a proposal that would define Zionism as a form of racism and call for a single Palestinian state. The reports, published before the scheduled conference vote, do not establish whether delegates adopted it. The motion says it would be implemented by the party’s antiracism policy working group under its ordinary procedures. Its potential application has become a point of dispute, particularly over whether Jewish members could face complaints for belonging to or attending synagogues and other institutions that identify as Zionist. No resulting complaint or disciplinary case is documented in the reports. Before the main debate, a proposed amendment intended to protect Jewish members attending Zionist synagogues or organisations was rejected in a poll reported as 67 votes against and 24 in favour. Sam Alston, a Jewish member of the Oxford Greens who spoke in support of the amendment, argued that disciplinary proceedings over synagogue attendance could amount to indirect religious discrimination. He said many Jewish institutions identify as Zionist.