NEW YORK (VINnews) — According to a confidential document leaked to the British-based newspaper The Telegraph, activists within the British Green Party are calling to classify Zionism as antisemitism and to support the establishment of a single Palestinian state instead of Israel as a Jewish state. Jewish self-determination, they argue, constitutes a “racist ideology.”

Green Party activists in the UK claim Zionism should be treated as a form of racism, based on an internal party document obtained by the newspaper. Grassroots members of the party are urging that belief in the Jewish right to self-determination be defined as a “racist ideology” in a proposal submitted for party debate.

The document suggests that Israel should not exist, stating that the “only possible solution” is a single Palestinian state. It also argues that the term “antisemitism” should no longer be used, claiming it discriminates against Arabs. Party members hope the proposals will become official policy at the party’s spring conference. While some of the motions may not be discussed due to time constraints, politicians across the political spectrum reportedly rushed to condemn them as “dangerous,” accusing elements within the party of promoting “antisemitic tropes.”

The Green Party has seen a rise in polling since Zack Polanski, who is Jewish but unabashedly anti-Zionist, became leader last September. The party is currently averaging 14.2 percent in polls, less than five points behind Labour and the Conservatives.

One proposal included in the leaked documents, backed by 300 supporters, calls for Zionism to be regarded like “any other form of racism.” The text claims that Zionism “enforces a system of apartheid and Jewish supremacy” over the local population and “deliberately exploits Judaism to justify displacement, rights violations, and systemic violence against Palestinians.”

The author of the proposal argues that those who define Zionism as belief in Israel’s right to exist are using rhetoric similar to that of Afrikaner nationalists in apartheid-era South Africa. “They said the same about apartheid; they too wrapped a system of racial domination and oppression in anti-colonial language. Zionism, like apartheid, denies the local population the right to self-determination through state violence, ethnic cleansing, and the denial of basic rights,” the proposal states.

The leaked document also highlights internal struggles within the Green Party over rejecting the two-state solution and reflects the belief among some members that Israel should not exist at all. In the party’s 2024 general election manifesto, there was no explicit commitment to a two-state solution. A party spokesperson said the Greens’ longstanding position is that “the people of the region should decide for themselves.”

However, the proposal states that “in light of the repeated failures of past negotiations, which have only led to continued oppression, displacement, apartheid, genocide, and crimes against Palestinians, the only viable solution is the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state.”

Despite the Greens voting in 2024 to support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement at the party’s Manchester conference, the document claims the party continues to use products and services linked to companies targeted by BDS. The movement calls for economic and cultural boycotts of Israeli goods and services, as well as companies perceived by activists as supporting Israel. The list currently includes Microsoft, Disney, and Coca-Cola.

The proposal, due to be voted on next month, asserts that adopting pro-BDS positions alone is insufficient. “The Green Party must implement BDS internally as well,” the document states. It further calls on the party to produce a report at its annual conference detailing which companies were boycotted and to provide “full disclosure” of alternatives used.