Board of Deputies passes motion declaring Green Party a 'racist party'

"By adopting an antisemitic platform, the Green Party of England and Wales has become a racist party. We will treat it accordingly," said the Board of Deputies president.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has passed a motion declaring that the UK Green Party is a racist party.

The resolution, adopted at the Board’s October Plenary Meeting, condemns the Green Party’s decision to adopt a policy branding Zionism as racism, deeming the policy racist and antisemitic. The Board will now treat the Greens as it has treated other "racist parties."

“Today, representatives of Jewish communities across Britain have delivered a clear verdict," said Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg. "By adopting an antisemitic platform, the Green Party of England and Wales has become a racist party. We will treat it accordingly."

“No political party has the right to tell Jews that a central part of our identity, rooted in thousands of years of history, faith and peoplehood, is racist. The Green Party’s policy brands much of our community, including our synagogues and communal organizations, with that slur. It gives prejudice against Jews a political license.

He said the Green Party’s leadership must now take responsibility for reversing this policy and "confronting the antisemitism it has legitimized." 

He also noted that the BoD recognizes and commends those within the party who opposed the motion, including Jewish members whose warnings were disregarded, and said these individuals deserve to be heard and supported.

Motion proposer Ashley Hirst said he is proud that British Jews have "said clearly" that a party which declares that this is racist "is itself a racist party.”

"The Board will give effect to the resolution in its dealings with the Green Party of England and Wales and continue to challenge antisemitism wherever it appears in political and public life.”

Green Party became first in Europe to declare itself anti-Zionist

The Green Party became the first mainstream party in Europe to declare itself openly anti-Zionist after voting in the controversial "Zionism is Racism" motion at its party conference in Brighton, UK, at the start of the month. 

The motion recognizes Zionism as Israel’s foundational ideology that has created and maintains an "apartheid regime" between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

It further affirms the right to self-determination and liberation of the Palestinian people and supports the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.”