Labour Party slams Greens for voting against two-state solution for Israel and Palestine

The Labour Party has criticised the Green Party after it passed a motion at its party conference declaring that “Zionism is racism”.

Activists at the party’s annual conference voted by 1,022 to 813 to back the motion which has been slammed as racist and anti-semitic by Labour Party MPs as well as Jewish groups and has also exposed deep splits within the Green Party.

Before the conference, former leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay both issued statements saying they would be voting against it. Green Party leader Zack Polanski did not cast a vote.

Green Party MP and former co-leader Adrian Ramsay told LBC he’s “deeply saddened” by the Zionism stance that “doesn’t reflect long-standing Green principles”.

“I’m deeply saddened that this motion has been passed. It doesn’t reflect my view, and it doesn’t reflect long-standing Green principles, which are about equal rights to all communities around the world, to self-determination, and that has to apply to both Israelis and Palestinians,” Mr Ramsay said.

“That’s what our manifesto said at the last general election, so that’s the basis on which I was elected, and I stand by that view.”

Reacting to the passing of the motion, Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-leads of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, said: “The motion is anti-semitic in its formulation and intention. By adopting it, the Green Party has made anti-semitism party policy and become a racist party.

“Jewish self-determination is a right. Declaring it racist is an attack on Jews.

“The Green Party has chosen to brand Jews who hold this belief as racists and make their equal participation in the party conditional on renouncing it.”

Bridget Phillipson MP, Chair of the Labour Party, and Minister for Women and Equalities said: “It is shameful to vote against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and to condemn the vast majority of British Jews and Jews around the world as racist for supporting Israel’s right to exist. It is fundamentally wrong and the leadership of the Green Party must make clear that this will not be their position moving forwards.

“The Labour Party has always been clear that criticism of the policies of the Israeli Government is not antisemitic, and the Labour government has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. But today’s vote at the Green Party Conference crosses a line and should be condemned across the political spectrum.

“This vote underlines how important it was that we changed the Labour Party from top to bottom and ripped out the scourge of antisemitism from within the party.

“The Labour Party and the Labour Government will continue working every day to ensure our Jewish communities are safe, feel safe and have their rights upheld, as well as making sure we rid our society of antisemitism once and for all.