Leader of Jewish Greens calls for Zack Polanski to resign
Vivien Lichtenstein says party leader should stand down over ‘Zionism is racism’ policy after losing byelection UK politics live – latest updates The leader of the Jewish Greens ha
By The Guardian
Vivien Lichtenstein, leader of the Jewish Greens, has called for Green Party leader Zack Polanski to resign over a policy equating Zionism with racism.
The motion was approved at the party’s conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813. It declares the Greens to be an anti-Zionist party and calls for Israel to be replaced by a single democratic Palestinian state.
Lichtenstein said the policy could put Jewish and other party members at risk. She has also said she is considering leaving the Green Party and will decide before elections for the Jewish Greens group in November.
Polanski, who is Jewish, had proposed amendments that would have added protections for Jewish members and removed the reference to a single democratic Palestinian state. Both amendments were defeated.
He did not stay at the conference to vote on the motion, leaving early to campaign in Holborn and St Pancras, where he is standing in a by-election.
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s former leader and its first MP, criticised Polanski for failing to show leadership by missing the debate and vote.
Polanski later said antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state must remain separate, adding that blurring the distinction was antisemitic and made Jewish people less safe.
The policy is now official Green Party policy under the party’s rules, although it does not have to appear in the party’s next general election manifesto.