Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Executive Director of European Affairs Shannon Seban responded Sunday to the adoption by the Green Party of England and Wales of a resolution equating Zionism with racism.
The resolution, adopted despite opposition from four of the party’s five MPs and concern among some Jewish members, is titled "Zionism is racism," and was approved Sunday at the party’s annual conference in Brighton by 1,022 votes to 813. It calls for Zionism, defined as the movement supporting a Jewish state, to be "treated as any other form of racism."
"What happened today in the United Kingdom should alarm anyone who genuinely claims to stand against racism," said Seban. "The Green Party voted to define Zionism as racism and formally establish itself as an anti-Zionist party. This goes far beyond a debate about the Israeli government or a particular policy. It brands the very notion of Jewish national self-determination as racist."
"We are witnessing a disturbing inversion of values. In the name of anti-racism, a national political party has adopted a position excluding and stigmatizing a vast majority of Jews and Jewish institutions because of their Zionist identity and ancestral connection to the Land of Israel."
Seban stressed, "We strongly reject the idea that Jews should be expected to renounce their shared peoplehood and fundamental rights to be accepted in progressive political spaces."
"We also reject the attempt to turn ‘Zionist’ into a term of abuse, or a convenient label through which Jews can once again be singled out, ostracized. or collectively scapegoated."
"At a time when antisemitism is already surging across Europe, words have consequences. Political parties carry a particular responsibility when they legitimize language that isolates Jewish communities and make hostility toward them socially permissible."
"A movement that claims to fight racism cannot build its politics on the rejection of Jews. When anti-racism becomes a vehicle for anti-Jewish discrimination, it has betrayed its own purpose. At the Combat Antisemitism Movement, we will not remain silent when this happens."