Flagship London council to pass 'Zionism is not racism' motion

Labour and Conservative members at Westminster City Council teamed up to draft the proposal, which states: “Support for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination is not racist”. Councillors will ask town hall chief executive, Stuart Love, to review the local authority’s “equality, diversity and community cohesion training and policies” to ensure that they “do not treat Jewish residents’ support for Jewish self-determination as a form of racism”. Cllr Paul Swaddle, leader of Westminster City CouncilLDRSThe motion, due to be debated at full council on Wednesday night, adds: “Criticism of the policies and actions of the Israeli Government is legitimate and is not antisemitic. “But declaring Zionism to be racism goes far beyond such criticism: it brands most British Jews as racists because of a part of their identity, and risks leaving Jewish residents feeling unwelcome in public life. “The Green Party’s position is incompatible with the council’s duty to foster good relations between communities.”The Green motion, which was passed at the party’s conference last month, described Zionism as an ideology supporting “an ethnonationalist Jewish state in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population”. It states that “Zionism is racism”.Labour threatened to stop cooperating with the Greens at almost a dozen local authorities across England following the new policy, which Prime Minister Andy Burnham branded “antisemitic”. The Greens said the party would “not take lectures” from a Labour government that supplies arms to Israel.Green Party leader Zack Polanski PA WireSome senior Green members, including the party’s former co-leader Adrian Ramsay and its first MP Caroline Lucas, also condemned the motion. Read MoreMr Ramsay called on local parties to renounce the policy, putting him at odds with current leader Zack Polanski. Westminster council’s motion resolves to “affirm that Zionism is not racism, and reject the position, adopted by the Green Party at its October 2026 conference”.Tory leader Paul Swaddle said: “It answers the Green Party’s conference decision that Zionism should be treated as any other form of racism. That is a shameful position. “It brands most British Jews as racists because of part of their identity, and it comes after the hate marches and attacks the Jewish community has faced in our city. “Our council must reject it in the clearest terms.”