The Green Party's Grave Misjudgement on Zionism

It's no secret that I have quite strident views on political subjects, and no less so when it comes to international affairs. I have now spent something close to two decades arguing, debating, and challenging commonly held views and assumptions, both within and on behalf of the Liberal Democrats - spanning both domestic issues and various international matters.

This includes questions surrounding the existence of and relations between Israel and Palestine, and their respective peoples. At the risk of crude oversimplification, I have broadly found myself at the pro-Palestinian end of the spectrum in such debates. This includes when I was myself a Liberal Democrat candidate for the European Parliament standing alongside sitting MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford. We fundamentally disagreed over the question of excluding goods connected to the occupied territories from any Israel-EU trade agreements. I was very much in favour of such exclusions; Sarah was not.

But even I find the motion passed at the Green Party Conference on Sunday far too extreme, despite having been a fierce critic of successive Israeli governments long before the current far-right Netanyahu regime launched what appears to be a genocidal campaign in Gaza following the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023. This is all the more so given the potentially clarifying amendments which were duly considered but then promptly rejected by voting Green members.

The Green Party now appears to share a position on the existence of Israel with the Iranian government and its various proxies and allied terror groups across the Middle East, including not just Hamas itself, but Hezbollah and the Houthis too; namely: that Israel has absolutely no right to exist at all.

And Green Party members on social media appear confused as to why their position is being viewed as extreme - really?!

No pronouncement by any British political party is going to make much, if any, difference to a conflict rooted in religious and cultural differences that go back millennia. But signals matter, especially to British people and would-be voters for different parties here in the UK. And this was a pretty big signal, not least to British Jews.

Labelling zionism - broadly, the belief that the Jewish people are entitled to national self-determination in a homeland of their own - as 'racism', to be considered on a par with the detestation of black and brown people by the likes of white supremacists, is just plain wrong. It conflates two very different ideas: the entirely legitimate and near-universal desire for community, safety, and a place to call home when this is articulated by a particular religious and ethnic group, namely Jews; and the narrow sectarian interests, along with the despicable methods used in relentless pursuit of such interests, by extremist Israeli leaders over the years. Clearly the former does not equal the latter.

But as well as being wrong, the Greens' new position is disgustingly insulting to British Jews - many of whom might otherwise be inclined to agree with what was starting to become something of a consensus among progressive parties in Britain regarding the deplorable actions of the Netanyahu regime. Until Sunday, the Labour Party, at least under new PM Andy Burnham, the Liberal Democrats, and the Greens seemed to share a broadly similar attitude towards the Israeli government's conduct. Not so any more.

Ultimately, it is perfectly possible to hold two different beliefs simultaneously. First, that both Israelis and Palestinians have the right to national self-determination and a homeland in the Middle East - regardless of the mistakes made (including by Britain) when setting up the modern State of Israel in the wake of the Second World War. Second, that successive Israeli governments, none more so than the current Netanyahu regime, including as it does both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, have systematically oppressed and denied fundamental rights to Palestinians. Indeed, I imagine many British Jews may hold both such beliefs.

Unfortunately, the Green Party of England and Wales seems to have at best forgotten this and at worst outright rejected the notion that these two positions are indeed compatible - thereby requiring everyone to choose between either supporting a Palestinian state or an Israeli one (and thereafter labelling those who make the latter choice as 'racist'!)

So if, like me, you are rightly concerned by and want to end the horrendous suffering of Palestinians yet believe that Israel should not be denied its very existence, let alone that Jews should be forced to accept they can never have a homeland of their own; then I urge you to withdraw any support you may have previously given, offered, or considered giving to the Greens (including and especially voting for them!) It perhaps goes without saying that other parties are available, ones with more sensible and more sensitive policies (not least the Liberal Democrats - who have a far stronger environmental record than the Green Party anyway, and whose parliamentary party includes the United Kingdom's first British Palestinian MP, Layla Moran).