The Board of Deputies of British Jews today passed a motion declaring that the Green Party of England and Wales has, by adopting an antisemitic platform, become a racist party, and resolving that the Board will treat it as it has treated other racist parties.
The resolution was adopted at the Board’s October Plenary Meeting, following the Green Party’s decision at its conference earlier this month to adopt a policy branding Zionism as racism.
Today’s decision reflects the profound concern across the Jewish community at a policy which brands a central element of Jewish identity as racist. For many British Jews, the connection to Israel is expressed through religious practice, family relationships, language, culture and the belief that the Jewish people have the same right to national self-determination as any other peoples. Declaring that connection racist has consequences for Jewish participation in public life and the treatment of Jewish communal institutions.
The Board is the UK’s most democratically representative body of the Jewish community, spanning 201 constituencies drawn from synagogues and communal organisations. Its membership comprises 309 Deputies and 32 Under-35 Observers, with 91 Deputies representing regional communities. Today’s resolution was debated and adopted through this representative structure, bringing together Jewish voices from across the country.
The Motion passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 118-1.
Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg said:
“Today, representatives of Jewish communities across Britain have delivered a clear verdict. 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 organisations, with that slur. It gives prejudice against Jews a political licence.
“The Green Party’s leadership must now take responsibility for reversing this policy and confronting the antisemitism it has legitimised. We recognise and commend those within the party who have opposed it, including Jewish members whose warnings were disregarded. They deserve to be heard and supported.
“We call on democratic parties and wider civil society to apply the same standards to anti-Jewish racism that they would to any other form of racism.”
Motion proposer Ashley Hirst said:
“I have inherited three thousand years of stories, language, memory and daily practice that tie me to Zion, and I’m proud 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.”
Motion seconder Max Royston said:
“I’m proud that the Board of Deputies, the largest democratic Jewish body in the country, has voted overwhelmingly to find the Green Party racist.
It sends a clear message about where the party is heading under its current leadership.
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in our own land. Deny that to Jews alone and it’s racism. Today our community called it by its name.”
The full text of the motion:
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