Imran Mulla
Middle East Eye / September 9, 2024
The environmentalist and leftist party also affirmed its support for the BDS movement, as well as a total suspension of arms sales to Israel.
The Green Party of England and Wales has voted to recognize Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, becoming the first major British political party to do so.
Having made Gaza a prominent plank of its campaign in several areas during the July general election, the party won an unprecedented four seats in parliament.
The motion, which was passed at the party’s annual conference on Sunday afternoon, branded Israel’s assault on Gaza a “genocide” – and declared support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
It said: “We affirm our commitment to explicitly supporting BDS in our internal and external communications going forward.
“Supporting the BDS movement is essential to holding Israel accountable, to supporting Palestinians’ rights to equality and self-determination, and to demonstrating that our support, as a nation, is not performative.”
The motion was proposed by a new group called Greens for Palestine.
Mothin Ali, a Green councilor in Leeds and one of the party members who proposed the motion, told Middle East Eye on Monday that the Green Party has “shown leadership on the issue of the Gaza genocide”.
“It’s absolutely crucial for all peace-loving people to do whatever is in their capacity to stop the killing [in Gaza],” he said.
“To truly work for peace, it’s absolutely essential to recognize the situation on the ground for what it is.”
Ali feels that the party has aligned itself with public opinion on the issue: “We knew that our party membership as well as the wider public supports the calls for a ceasefire and an end to genocide.
“It’s a very positive step that party policy is in alignment with the view of the membership, along with the wider public.”
‘End further arms sales to Israel’
Last Friday at the conference, Chris Williams, who ran the recent election campaign, told journalists: “Gaza was a big issue in the election. A quarter of all Green voters named it as the reason they voted Green.”
The Greens called for a ceasefire on 17 October, 10 days after the war broke out, in contrast to the Labour Party – which initially supported Israel’s blockade and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Aasiya Bora, secretary of the Muslim Greens, told MEE on Monday that the party has “made history” by passing the Gaza motion.
“Greens for Palestine, comprising passionate people from across the Green Party, have worked tirelessly for this and are beyond elated.”
In his conference speech on Friday, party co-leader Adrian Ramsay MP slammed the Labour government’s partial suspension on arms sales to Israel as “half-hearted”.
The government announced last Monday it would block 30 out of 350 arms exports to Israel.
On Saturday, deputy leader Zack Polanski doubled down on the criticism by telling the party conference that “we recognize peace just can’t happen until we end our own government’s complicity in violence.
“We must end further arms sales to Israel – and to all countries breaking international law.”
Imran Mulla is a journalist at Middle East Eye
