UK Prime Minister to Green Party leader: Cancel the decision defining Zionism as "a form of racism"

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham called on Green Party leader Zack Polanski to cancel a conference decision defining Zionism as a form of racism. Burnham called the decision "completely wrong." The decision shelves the party's support for a two-state solution and adopts a position of a single Palestinian state. Polanski distanced himself from rejecting the two-state solution.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham called on Green Party leader Zack Polanski to cancel the decision passed by his party, which defines Zionism as "a form of racism." Burnham said the decision, approved on Sunday at the party conference in Brighton, is "completely wrong" and shows "extremely poor judgment." The decision is meant to shelve the party's long-standing support for a two-state solution, and the Greens now support "one democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine." Polanski, who is Jewish and known as a sharp critic of Israeli policy, did not express support for the proposal and specifically distanced himself from rejecting the two-state solution. "I don't think we as a Green Party should decide what the future arrangement will look like," he said, emphasizing that the party should focus on equal rights. In a separate vote, conference delegates rejected, by 1,026 to 684, an amendment meant to protect Jewish members active in Zionist organizations from accusations of racism. The proposal, known as E02, was formulated by Palestinian activist Lubna Sbitan and aims to make the Greens a declared anti-Zionist party. It states that Israel is "committing genocide" and explicitly supports a single Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The decision may lead to some Jewish party members who support Zionism facing disciplinary proceedings for racism.