Conservative and Labour members at Westminster City Council unanimously backed the motion in a direct rebuke to the national Green Party
Protesters waving Palestine flags and chanting to a rolling drumbeat gathered outside Marylebone Town Hall as a counter-demonstration also took place, both as a result of a council motion meant to call out divisive language.
Conservative and Labour councillors were preparing to support a motion affirming ‘Zionism is not racism’ at the meeting on Wednesday (November 11).
The resolution, a rare cross-party proposal, was unanimously backed by members at last night’s Westminster Full Council meeting in a rebuke to the national Green Party which had passed its own motion at its annual party conference declaring that Zionism is racism.
Cllr Hannah Galley, Cabinet Member for Children and Education and the mover of the proposal, told members they have “a duty and a responsibility to defend community cohesion, to challenge prejudice wherever it arises, and to ensure that every resident here in Westminster…[should] feel safe in expressing their identity”.
Labour’s Cllr David Boothroyd, the authority’s former finance chief and seconder of the motion, added it is “profoundly sad that we have again to address ourselves to the attacks on Jewish people here in Westminster, over an issue of land some thousands of miles away”.
However, while its stated intention was to call out what local councillors said was a divisive motion by the national Green Party, the presence of a protest and counter protest last night suggests it’s stoked that same division.
The Green Party’s ‘Zionism is racism’ motion was adopted by members with 1,022 votes in favour to 813 against, and has drawn criticism both externally and from within the party. Ellie Chowns, one of the Greens’ five MPs, told the BBC it was a “significant and damaging policy”.
As revealed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the Westminster resolution stated Zionism is widely understood as “the belief that the Jewish people have the right to national self-determination in their historic homeland”.
It added the local authority believes that Zionism is not racism, and that support for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination is not racist.
“The Green Party’s position is incompatible with the council’s duty to foster good relations between communities and with the Members’ Code of Conduct,” it continued. “Antisemitism must be challenged consistently, whichever political party or individual it comes from.”
The motion outlined four actions if it was to be agreed, including that the Council Leader and Leader of the Opposition write to local synagogues and the London Jewish Forum offering reassurance.
Ahead of Full Council the LDRS was made aware of a complaint filed with the local authority by Gary Spedding, an independent political consultant, warning of “serious legal deficiencies” with the motion.
The complaint alleged that adopting it as drafted risks placing Westminster City Council in breach of its statutory duties, due to the potential impacts on Palestinian, British-Palestinian, Arab and associated Muslim residents.
It called on the council to withdraw the item until a full Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is carried out, and for an amendment ensuring the rights of affected groups are protected.
‘All peoples have the right to self-determination’
Simply getting into Marylebone Town Hall proved to be something of an endeavour. A large pro-Palestine contingent had gathered to protest on the steps to the building’s entrance, accompanied by a group of counter protesters sporting Israeli flags.
Faaiz Hasan, a prominent member of the local Green Party, said given it was Remembrance Day it was important to think of all of those who have died in war, including “the tens of thousands of people who have been killed in Gaza”.
On the Greens’ motion, he said those involved knew there would be “a deluge of bad faith attacks on us, on our leaders, on Zack Polanski”.
He added the intention of the resolution is clear: “We are against Zionism and [believe] it to be completely different to Judaism. And there is no linkage between the two. Jews are welcome in the Green Party. Our leader is Jewish. We are proud to be led by him.”
Introducing the proposal in the chamber, Cllr Galley said that since Hamas’ assault on October 7 2023, “we’ve seen a sustained campaign of hostility towards Jewish identity played out in our streets, in our universities, and across many public institutions right here in Westminster”.
She added: “For many months, posters were put up on notice boards with the faces of the hostages. Symbolic yellow ribbons were adorned to lamp posts. They were a simple reminder that we’d not forgotten those who’d been captured so brutally by terrorists and dragged from their homes and from a music festival.
“And yet, even those were ripped down from our streets in defiance by people who spared no thought for those who were grieving. This intimidation has grown to the extent that Jews are the only people who have to worship behind security patrols.”
“Zionism is not racist,” she said. “Jewish identity is not to be erased and Jewish people should never have to hide who they are to feel safe in London.”
Cllr Boothroyd said it was his “duty” to second the motion as the longest serving Labour councillor. He said the issue at the heart of the motion is simple, namely that under international law, “all peoples have the right to self-determination”.
“Zionism is an application of that right,” he said. “In singling out one people and seeking to deny that right to them, the policy adopted by the Green Party is itself discriminatory. Discriminating against Jews is antisemitism.”
Cllr Boothroyd added this right extends to self-determination for Palestinians, the denial of which he said is also racist.
He then revealed the Labour group had attempted to insert an amendment to the draft motion, though an agreement could not be reached with the Conservatives.
If added it would have read: “A two-state solution, with Israel and a sovereign, viable Palestinian state, living side by side within internationally recognised borders, offers the only sustainable path to lasting peace, security for Israel and Jewish people worldwide, and an end to Palestinian suffering.”
At one point Cllr Boothroyd’s voice wavered as he spoke of his visit to the Nova exhibition, a remembrance of the murder of attendees at the festival on October 7, when it was in London.
Cllr Boothroyd was at times critical of Israel’s actions, in particular the lack of acceptance that Palestinians also need a land of their own.
“This failure to achieve lasting political settlement which recognises the rights and aspirations of Palestinians has consequences far beyond the region,” he said.
“But importing an international conflict into our local communities and making our Jewish residents feel that they must answer for the actions of Israel is profoundly wrong. That is why the policy adopted by the Green Party is not the way.”
All of those present, on both sides of the chamber, agreed to support the motion.
Cllr Paul Swaddle, Leader of the council, said he will be writing to members not in attendance requesting they confirm how they would have voted.
‘We say never again’
Zack Polanski, the Green Party Leader and a Jewish man, has rebutted some of the push-back to the national party’s motion including claims it amounts to antisemitism. He told the London Assembly that being Jewish and a Zionist are two different things.
“It’s a huge part of my identity,” he said. “And because I’m Jewish, I grew up with the story of the Holocaust. This motion was co-proposed by Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor. And we say never again, not just for one group of people, but for all groups of people.”
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