Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats statement on the Green Party’s ‘Zionism is Racism’ policy

Peace will not be built by denying the rights or humanity of either Palestinians or Israelis.

After years of horrific bloodshed, displacement and suffering, the challenge facing all those who genuinely want peace is how Palestinians and Israelis can live as equals, with dignity, justice and security.

The Green Party’s decision at its conference this weekend to declare that “Zionism is racism” takes us further away from that goal.

We are deeply disturbed by both the language and implications of this motion.

Waltham Forest Green Party has since sought to reassure residents that its policy concerns Zionism solely as a “political ideology”, that Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous, and that its opposition to Zionism should not be regarded as antisemitism.

We agree that criticism of Israel or Zionism is not automatically antisemitic. Nor should anybody’s political beliefs be assumed simply because they are Jewish.

But that does not resolve the fundamental problem with this motion.

Zionism is a broad and contested term encompassing very different beliefs. For many Jewish people, at its most basic it means support for Jewish self-determination and the continued existence of Israel. Jews themselves profoundly disagree about Zionism, successive Israeli governments, settlements, the occupation and the treatment of Palestinians.

Declaring this entire spectrum of belief to be “racism” therefore goes far beyond legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy. It risks branding millions of people as racists because of a belief closely connected to their history, identity and sense of security.

Intent matters, but so does impact. Saying that a policy is not directed at Jewish people does not answer the concerns of Jewish residents who believe that an important part of their identity or worldview has just been collectively condemned as racist.

The Green motion also rejects the principle of two states for two peoples in favour of a single Palestinian state across Israel and the Palestinian territories. In doing so, it denies the continued existence of Israel as a separate state.

That is not the Liberal Democrat approach.

We believe passionately in Palestinian self-determination and statehood, just as we recognise Israel’s right to exist in security. We support a negotiated two-state solution in which an independent Palestine and Israel can exist side by side. Neither people’s rights should depend upon denying those of the other.

We are particularly concerned about the consequences of this rhetoric here in Britain.

Jewish communities are already experiencing extremely high levels of antisemitism. Political parties therefore have a particular responsibility to lower tensions, challenge hatred and bring communities together — not adopt sweeping language that risks making Jewish residents feel targeted or unwelcome.

It is both legitimate and necessary to criticise the actions of Israeli governments, to defend Palestinian rights and to oppose occupation, settlement expansion and breaches of international law. But those arguments can and should be made without collectively condemning Zionists as racists or denying Jewish people the same right to national self-determination that we rightly demand for Palestinians.

We are therefore deeply disappointed that Waltham Forest Greens have chosen not merely to accept the national party’s motion but to publicly defend it.

As the Green Party now leads Waltham Forest Council, there is an additional responsibility to distinguish partisan political positions from the duties of the local authority.

We call on Waltham Forest Council to make clear that it represents and serves all our communities and will neither endorse nor pursue policies that discriminate against, demonise or place at risk any section of our extraordinarily diverse borough.

Waltham Forest Greens conclude their statement by saying that “Palestinian freedom and Jewish safety are not competing principles.”

On that, we agree.

But neither are Palestinian and Jewish self-determination competing principles.

A lasting peace cannot be built by asking either people to surrender their identity, security or national rights. Our responsibility as politicians — locally and internationally — should be to bring people together around that principle, rather than deepen the divisions standing in its way.