Motion #20

Jewish Greens

This year has been unlike any other in the history of Jewish Greens, or for Jewish members in the history of the Green Party. The atrocities of October 7th, 2023, perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli citizens and foreign nationals resulted in more than 1,100 people killed and another 240 taken hostage. Not only were lives taken, but many other lives were torn apart by what unfolded.

The following 12 months have seen war erupt in Gaza with a devastating number of Palestinian fatalities, rockets fired on Israel, and increasing threats of wider conflicts that could have far-reaching consequences for Israel and the region. As often happens when

there is conflict in the Middle East, we have seen a widespread rise in antisemitism in many countries around the world.

This has presented new challenges for us as a liberation group and as a party. We have collaborated with the press and leadership team on statements, calling for a ceasefire and

the release of hostages; and have been clear there is no tolerance for antisemitism, including within our own party.

However, for the first time since our formation, we have seen Jews resign their membership, or step back following statements, policy changes or social media posts and, in the worst cases, experience of antisemitism.

Yet, we are proud members of the party and believe it remains a place for Jews to fulfil the teachings of our faith and work for a better world. There remains work to do to ensure this continues.

Overview

More of our focus this year has been drawn by events in the national news. This concerns events in the Middle East and antisemitism, as well as a punishing schedule of elections. Three Jewish Greens officers stood at the General Election retaining their deposits and coming second. To reflect the times, we are now holding monthly members meetings.

Alongside this we have held well-attended events working with other allied groups. Highlights:

• An event on Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller rights, to help build support for the repeal of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, and in advance of a proposed new Green Party policy to address barriers affecting GRT communities and ensure equity, equality, and justice for these communities. This policy passed at Conference 2023.
• Our first event for Holocaust Memorial Day with a range of Green Party Special Interest Groups. We heard from Generation2Generation speaker Melanie telling the story of her

mother Tootje (Cato) Granaat, a holocaust survivor from the Netherlands, and her family. We heard about the effect of rising authoritarianism marring their youth and the devastating impact of transportation but also their survival and escape. Our thanks to Benali Hamdache for chairing. If you missed the event you can find out more here.

• Jewish Greens held an off-the-record conversation between Daniel Levy, of the US Middle East Project (USMEP), and Carne Ross, the party’s Global Solidarity spokesperson. They discussed the current crisis in Gaza and more broadly Israel and the Palestinians.
• At Conference 2024 Jewish Greens were involved in three events: our regular members meeting; Joshua Alston, our Policy Officer, spoke on a panel discussion on how to address rising fascism; and a joint event with Muslim Greens looking at how faith motivates our environmentalism.

We supported the party’s statement with Lord Mann on how it is working to address antisemitism.

Together with Muslims Greens, following a joint meeting, we published a statement opposing efforts to exploit the ongoing tragedy in Israel-Palestine to foster division, intensify antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of racism.

Our outgoing treasurer, Zack Polanski, partly through his secondary role as Deputy Leader, has also been busy attending Jewish community events, including events at JW3 the Jewish community centre. He was also booked as a key Friday night speaker for Limmud, the major Jewish community conference held over the Christmas period.

We have continued with work inside the party, providing antisemitism training for local parties, engaging with and advising other bodies where issues arise involving the Jewish community. As Chair, I have attended PolCom and E&D meetings. Our officers – including two councillors, Jo Bird and Andrée Frieze – make ourselves available to offer advice and

support to members, especially those who have been selected as election candidates. And we are also working with the Governance and other staff to provide ongoing training for all party bodies.

We ask members to use our sign-up form as it requests details not included on the party’s general SIG form. My thanks to all officers including those not mentioned previously: Sam Alston, past Events Officer and current Secretary, and outgoing officers, David Farbey and Elly Stanton.