Israel slams Green Party after members vote to define Zionism as racism

Israel has accused the Green Party of England and Wales of giving "legitimacy to terrorism" after its members voted on Sunday to recognise Zionism as a form of racism.

The vote makes the Greens the first major UK party to define Zionism as racism and to back a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all ethnic and religious groups, rather than a two-state solution.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the new policy went "far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate" and called on other British parties to condemn the resolution.

"The Greens have adopted not only the green of Hamas, but also its ideology: the elimination of the State of Israel through armed struggle," the ministry wrote on social media.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the move "a disgrace and a shame".

"Those who claim the antisemitic lie that 'Zionism is racism' deliberately endanger Jews and Israelis everywhere," he wrote on social media.