US antisemitism envoy to make ‘representations’ over Green anti-Zionist motion
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun suggests the political group was 'hypocritical' in singling out Israel for condemnation, while turning a blind eye to other countries
The US is to make “representations” to the UK Government over the Green Party’s controversial adoption of a policy branding Zionism as racism, Washington’s top adviser on antisemitism has said.
Special envoy ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun suggested the political group was “hypocritical” in singling out Israel for condemnation, while turning a blind eye to other countries.
He indicated this amounted to antisemitism under the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), signed by the British Government in 2016, in applying double standards towards the Middle East country.
The Green Party motion, backed by conference-goers on Sunday, has sparked a fierce backlash with Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis condemning it as “poisonous antisemitism”.
Party leader Zack Polanski has been barred from entering Israel in retaliation.
The motion declared the Greens to be an “anti-Zionist party” and sets into its policy that Zionism, the movement to develop and protect a Jewish state in Israel, will be “treated as any other form of racism”.
It also backed the establishment of a “single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.
The vote in support came just days before the third anniversary of the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Speaking in Washington DC, Rabbi Kaploun, whose full title is special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said: “First of all, we will be making some representations on the issue.”
He added: “I think a lot of countries are being hypocritical in the sense of they will only focus on Israel, they will not focus on other countries.
“If you look at the definition of the IHRA accords, which Britain signed, that the same condemnation that you want to use about Israel has to be used across the board on every country, and I don’t think they’re living up to that standard of what they signed in their agreement.”