The chair of Amnesty International has left the Green Party over the “Zionism is racism” motion, accusing the party of “failing to confront prejudice” in its rank.
Sandy Ruthven MBE said that in courting the “hard-left vote”, Zack Polanski’s party had failed to combat bigotry.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Ruthven said his “heart has always been with the Green Party” but after the motion defining Zionism as racism and calling for a single Palestinian state passed, the chair of the Board of trustees of the Amnesty International UK resigned his membership.
Ruthven, who has helmed the board of the UK charity since 2025, said hours after the vote that saw Green conference vote for the motion 1,022 votes to 813, that the party had led itself “into a political cul-de-sac”.
“My heart has always been with the Green Party of England and Wales and I have been a member for longer than I can remember. But this motion at conference marks the end of the line for me. I have resigned my membership.
“In seeking to court the hard-left vote, we have failed to confront prejudice when it appears on our own side. In doing so, we have led ourselves into a political cul-de-sac. I sincerely hope the party finds a way back,” he said.
The vote on Sunday makes the Greens the first political party to define Zionism as a form of racism, and could see the party challenged in the courts via equality legislation.
Jewish members told the JC they felt “betrayed” after delegates also rejected a Jewish safeguarding amendment by 1,026 votes to 648 that was intended to protect members of the community who attend Zionist synagogues.
Raabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-leaders of Progressive Judaism, said that by adopting the motion “the Green Party has made antisemitism party policy and become a racist party.
“Jewish self-determination is a right. Declaring it racist is an attack on Jews.”
The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council said the motion was “an attack on the Jewish community”’ and “an antisemitic platform, based on a grossly offensive distortion and erasure of Jewish experience and identity.”
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the motion was “poisonous antisemitism, a threat to British Jews and to Britain.”
The motion is also causing division between the party and its European affiliated group.
European Greens said they were "seeking a discussion" with the party's leadership over the motion.
In a statement, the European group said: "EGP had already reached out to GPEW [Green Party of England and Wales] in recent weeks to share its deep concern, as this motion is not aligned with agreed EGP positions.
“We will be seeking a discussion with the GPEW leadership and Parliamentary Group in order to understand whether this motion will become the official GPEW policy, and how the party now positions itself on the self-determination of Israelis and Jewish people, and the protection of Jewish members of the party."
Green MPs spoke out against the motion, but it was not enough to prevent members voting for it en masse after a campaign for people to join the party to vote in support the motion.
One Jewish Green, David Urban, appealed to “brave progressives to stand with us because otherwise we will never have the numbers,” adding, “Jews are the canary in the coal mine and it looks like the canary is dying.”
There are now calls for Green MPs to resign from the party. Adrian Ramsay said that the party must remain a welcome place for Zionists – but the JC understands that he will not be resigning over the motion.
But some Greens are stepping down.
Waterloo Green councillor Kieran Dams resigned as coordinator of his local party, saying that after speaking out against the motion he had received “hundreds of abusive and threatening messages”, some of which he will be reporting to the police.
Posting on X, he appealed to others to join him in speaking out, “please don’t stay silent. Speak up. It matters,” he said.
“I've poured so much into this party over the years. Evenings, weekends, campaigning, organising. I've genuinely given it everything.
“I could stay quiet and sit on the sidelines, but that's just not me. If I think something is wrong, I'll say it.
“Since speaking out I've had hundreds of abusive and threatening messages. Some are serious enough that I'll be taking them to the police.
“I'm genuinely gutted it's come to this, but I have to stand by what I believe,” Dams said.
A spokesman for the Greens said the party was “anti-racist.. and has consistently opposed the illegal occupation of both Palestinian and Syrian land, called for an end to arms sales to the Israeli government and spoken out fearlessly about the devastating situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Those positions remain central to our approach. So too does our deeply-held commitment to equality, justice and human rights for all, and opposition to racism in all its forms.
"It is always sad when anyone decides to leave the Green Party”
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