Greens postpone vote on motion equating Zionism with racism after online vote system collapses

The Green Party postponed a vote on a controversial motion that equated Zionism with racism as technical glitches in the system allowing members to express their views online broke down.

The build-up to the Greens’ Spring Conference, which took place on Zoom for members only, had been dogged by widespread communal anger over a motion tabled by the Green for Palestine group that attempted to move the party into an outright anti-Zionist position.

Jewish News had previously reported how Green Party chiefs were “not sure” the motion would actually be debated and voted on at the conference.

Other sources also said Zack Polanski and other senior figures had not wanted the row over the party’s position on Israel and Palestine to dominate the agenda weeks ahead of May’s local elections.

Polanski has been repeatedly quizzed about the motion and appeared uneasy in his responses.

In some interviews, he attempted to suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Zionist ideology was something he would view as being racist, unlike earlier forms of Zionist ideology.

The motion, if passed, threatened to leave most Jewish Green Party members facing expulsion unless they expressed support for a one-state solution in the Middle East.

In predictable scenes, scores of far-left activists, many who were previously supportive of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, lined up to back the Zionism Is Racism motion, and attempted to force it onto the agenda for voting at Saturday’s meeting.

A Green Party spokesperson told Jewish News that the subsequent technical problems with the voting system were not linked to an apparent surge in the number of members logging on to vote for the motion.

Some reports later claimed the system was being targeted by a cyber attack.

Former Green Party deputy leader Shahrar Ali tweeted that the vote had been delayed by ‘wrecking tactics’.

“This is the ugly side of Green Party internal democracy – from a party which pretends grassroots democracy is at its core”, he wrote.

“The reality is their hatred of debate extends to their determination to stop debate if they have the power to do so.”

In scenes familiar to those in far-left circles, there was a series of attempted votes of no confidence in the chair of the Greens meeting.

The motion is now likely to be pushed at the next Green Party conference, with far-left activists and pro-Palestine campaigners desperate to steer the party to an outright anti-Zionist position.