Senior CST official warns Green Party will launch ‘witch hunt’ against Jewish members

The Green Party will see a “witch hunt” against Jewish members following its decision to declare Zionism racism, a leading antisemitism expert has warned.

Dr Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), said activists behind the controversial motion would not stop at changing party policy but would seek to target Jewish members who disagreed with them.

Speaking at the launch of his new book, From Be’eri to Bondi: Global Antisemitism After October 7, at JW3 in London on Tuesday evening, Rich accused the Greens of ignoring warnings about extremists joining the party.

“The activists who have pushed this motion through absolutely intend to use it that way,” he told journalist Nicole Lampert during their discussion.

“They will want to put this into action. They will want to, they will lead a witch hunt against any Jews in the party who are not sufficiently pure enough for them.”

The warning follows the Green Party’s decision at its annual conference in Brighton to adopt a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism.

Rich said the consequences could extend beyond the party, pointing to the 1970s, when similar policies were used by some student unions to exclude Jewish societies.

“Whenever that becomes embedded in any organisation, it leads to persecution of Jews,” he said.

He argued that describing Zionism as racist was not simply criticism of Israeli government policy but an attack on Jewish identity and history.

“To delegitimise Zionism in its entirety and brand it as racism effectively denies our history and our culture in a really demeaning and, I think, dangerous way.”

Rich also questioned the position of Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, arguing that prominent Jewish politicians risked placing additional pressure on the wider community when invoking their Jewish identities to defend political positions on Israel.

He suggested that Jewish people in Britain were increasingly being judged according to whether they agreed with those positions.

The discussion, held in partnership with the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, came on the eve of the third anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks.

Rich accused parts of the pro-Palestinian movement of deliberately seeking to change the meaning of the anniversary by focusing on Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza while overlooking the original attacks.

He also raised concerns about Iranian influence in Britain, warning that the threat extended beyond antisemitic rhetoric to national security.

Despite his bleak assessment, Rich urged British Jews not to withdraw from public life or abandon efforts to build relationships with other communities.

“We have a lot of friends, we have a lot of allies,” he said, highlighting cooperation with Muslim organisations and the work of academics challenging antisemitism.

Asked whether worsening antisemitism meant British Jews should consider leaving the country, he argued that the problem was international and could not simply be escaped by moving elsewhere.

“There’s nowhere to go. There’s no running away from this problem.”

Instead, he called for Jewish communities to organise, defend their interests and work alongside people of different backgrounds who share their values.

“How do we build a new civil society of people who want, who recognise the danger that antisemitism poses?” he asked.

His new book examines the spread of antisemitism since 7 October 2023, drawing on articles, essays and speeches written over the past three years, and explores how Jewish communities can respond to growing hostility.

From Be’eri to Bondi: Global antisemitism after October 7, can be purchased here or at all good bookshops.