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The UK\u2019s left-wing Green party voted Sunday to define Zionism as racism at the party\u2019s annual conference, drawing sharp backlash from three British Jewish groups, the ruling Labour Party and Israel\u2019s government.<\/strong><\/p>\n Members of the Green party, which has five MPs in Britain\u2019s 650-seat parliament and which enjoyed a boost in recent local and special elections, backed the motion at the party\u2019s conference, with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against.<\/p>\n According to the motion, Zionism would be \u201ctreated as any other form of racism\u201d and the party supports the establishment of a \u201csingle democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a serious and deeply felt debate within our membership,\u201d a Green spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The Greens have enjoyed a surge in popularity under the charismatic leadership of Zack Polanski, attracting voters dissatisfied with the centre-left Labour government\u2019s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n However, Polanski\u2019s popularity has taken a hit in recent months, polls show, following several missteps.<\/p>\n \u201cThis motion would make the Green Party the first electorally significant UK political party in living memory to adopt what appears to be an overtly antisemitic political platform,\u201d three Jewish community groups said in a letter to the party ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also emphasised the implications for the safety and welfare of all British Jews,\u201d the heads of the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust and Jewish Leadership Council warned.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s president, Isaac Herzog, called the Green party\u2019s decision \u201ca disgrace\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cZionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, and it forms the basis for the Jewish people\u2019s right to a state and a national home in the Land of Israel,\u201d Herzog said on X.<\/p>\n Bridget Phillipson, chair of the ruling Labour Party and Minister for Women and Equalities, also condemned the Green Party\u2019s conference decision.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is shameful to vote against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and to condemn the vast majority of British Jews and Jews around the world as racist for supporting Israel\u2019s right to exist,\u201d she said in a party statement.<\/p>\n The motion laid bare divisions in the party with Polanski \u2014 who is currently running to become an MP in former prime minister Keir Starmer\u2019s London constituency \u2014 skipping the vote.<\/p>\n Despite at least three out of five Green MPs opposing the motion, Polanski said earlier this week that the \u201cdisplacement and genocide of the Palestinian people\u201d was \u201cclearly racism\u201d.<\/p>\n United Nations investigators have accused Israel of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d in the war in Gaza, a finding that Israel has rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nIsrael\u2019s anger\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n