Board of Deputies formally declares Green Party has 'become a racist party' after its anti-Zionist policy

Britain's largest Jewish group have formally declared Zack Polanski 's Green Party 'racist' and accused the party of 'giving prejudice against Jews a political licence'. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned the party following Green members voting in the policy motion that 'Zionism is racism' at this year's conference. The Jewish organisation voted 'overwhelmingly', by 118 votes to one, on Sunday that the Green Party of England and Wales had adopted an anti-Semitic platform and become a 'racist party'. Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg said: 'By adopting an anti-Semitic platform , the Green Party of England and Wales has become a racist party. We will treat it accordingly. 'No political party has the right to tell Jews that a central part of our identity – rooted in thousands of years of history, faith and peoplehood – is racist. 'The Green Party's policy brands much of our community, including our synagogues and communal organisations, with that slur. It gives prejudice against Jews a political licence. 'The Green Party's leadership must now take responsibility for reversing this policy and confronting the anti-Semitism it has legitimised .' Zack Polanksi's Greens have been formally declared a 'racist' party by the Board of Deputies of British Jews The motion urged other political parties not to do deals with the Greens unless they rejected the Zionism is racism policy. The Board of Deputies said forming coalition deals with Greens at local or national level would be 'failing to take anti-Semitism with the requisite seriousness' unless the party's local leadership had rejected the policy and committed to overturn it. Labour has already issued an ultimatum to local Green groups it is currently in coalition with, telling them to disown the motion or lose the party's support. Mr Rosenberg said: 'We recognise and commend those within the party who have opposed it, including Jewish members whose warnings were disregarded. They deserve to be heard and supported. 'We call on democratic parties and wider civil society to apply the same standards to anti-Jewish racism that they would to any other form of racism.' However, the Greens have insisted they do not discriminate against people who hold Zionist views. A party spokesman said: 'The Green Party does not discriminate against or exclude people for holding Zionist views. 'The motion passed at our conference sets out political opposition to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of the Palestinian people. 'We reject the Board of Deputies' characterisation of this motion and our party, which will not stop us from speaking out against the genocide in Gaza and pushing for stronger sanctions against the Israeli government and its leaders.'