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The left-leaning British Green Party classified Zionism as 'a form of racism' on Sunday, in a vote taken during its annual conference, a move that has sparked angry reactions from British Jewish groups and the Israeli government.
Members of the Green Party, which holds five seats in the 650-member British House of Commons and has made progress in recent local and by-elections, approved the classification with 1022 members in favor and 813 opposed.
The resolution states that Zionism should be treated 'as any other form of racism' and that the party supports the establishment of 'one democratic Palestinian state over the entirety of historic Palestine'.
The party's popularity is on the rise under the leadership of Zac Pullamsnky, attracting voters who oppose the Labour government's stance on the war in Gaza.
Three organizations representing the Jewish community wrote to the party before the vote, stating that 'approving this proposal would make the Green Party the first British political party of electoral weight to approve, in living memory, a political platform that appears to contain explicitly anti-Semitic positions'.
The organizations warned of the 'potential implications for the security and safety of all British Jews'.
For its part, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which described the decision as 'blatantly anti-Semitic text', announced on Sunday evening that Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had barred Green Party leader Zac Pullamsnky from entering Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also described the party's decision as a'stain'.
In a post on the X platform, Herzog said, 'Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, and it forms the basis of the Jewish people's right to establish a state and a national homeland in the Land of Israel'.
Despite at least three of the party's five MPs opposing the resolution, Pullamsnky said earlier this week that 'the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people' are 'clearly racist'.
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