Jewish anti-Zionists send public letter of complaint to the Green Party

The following public letter to the Green Party comes from two Jewish anti-Zionist organisations. Jewish Network for Palestine and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network have written the letter in response to the suspension of Tony Greenstein from the party.

We reproduce the letter in full:

We are writing to the Green Party as members of two Jewish Anti-Zionist organisation operating in Britain – Jewish Network for Palestine (JNP) and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), and representing many thousands of members and followers – protesting against the recent Green Party’s shameful decision to suspend the membership of Tony Greenstein, claiming a “history of antisemitism including court decisions” as the foundation for this action.

Tony Greenstein, a pro-Palestinian activist and Jewish Anti-Zionist Green Party Member has been active against Israeli racism, ethnic cleansing, Apartheid and genocide for many decades; he is a member of Jewish Network for Palestine and on its Steering Committee. He has been a fearless campaigner against Zionism and for the rights of the Palestinian people and the rule of international law. He has been given no information other than spurious claims without evidence or proof for this offensive claim. We are deeply concerned this could be part of a broader smear campaign against pro-Palestinians within the Green Party, along the lines of the Hasbara campaign against the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn.

We were offered no information about the source of such accusations but believe the Party has been bullied into taking action without any basis in fact. No court decision anywhere has decreed Tony Greenstein is an antisemite, so there is no substance to this accusation, and the Party should have checked this before signing up to an accusation which itself is antisemitic. The claim that Tony has “a history of anti-Semitism” is false and especially infuriating as Tony is the author of a most detailed recent book about the links between Zionism and the Nazis during the period 1933-45, and is an authority about antisemitism himself; much more so than the people who accused him anonymously.

Like so many Jews, Tony comes from a family which suffered losses during the Holocaust, and the accusation, as well as the suspension from the Party, are hurtful, offensive and unjustified antisemitic acts by the Green Party.

So, we have some questions for Zack Polanski, for which we should have simple and truthful replies:

1. Is the Green Party now taking on the mantle of accusing Jews with antisemitism if they criticise Israel for its crimes – crimes the whole world is aware of and for which it is now under inquiry by the ICC and ICJ – the highest courts of humanity?

2. Has the party become an instrument of Israeli Hasbara? By acting like an inquisitorial court driven by Zionist accusations, without providing details to the accused, any pretence of justice seems to have been abandoned. Do you find this an acceptable way to treat your members, and are you committed to continue using this flawed approach?

3. Who has put such accusations against Tony Greenstein, and what is the evidential foundation of such scurrilous claims? Is it the practice of the Party to accept accusations and keep the identity of the accuser a secret, and not expose them to a simple procedure of a proper inquiry and cross-questioning?

4. What kind of process is being used by the party, in which no proof is necessary, no evidence is presented, no procedure is followed, and no justice can be seen, let alone done? Is the GP now open to any accusation of antisemitism against anti-Zionist Jews and others, not upholding an evidential procedure, requiring proof from named persons, and allowing the accused a process of self-defence, not to mention some information about the basis for the inquiry?

5. Does the Party believe it has the expertise, procedures, information and the moral authority to dictate to Jews, as well as non-Jews, committed to international law and the struggle against Israeli racist crimes and crimes against humanity – that they must support Zionism, in defying not only of their personal moral code, but that of the international legal authorities?

6. Will the Green Party act against those Jews, and others, who have supported, and continue to support the crimes of the Zionist state? Is the Party committed to ending the Racist Zionist Apartheid in Palestine? If so, will supporters of the Zionist crimes be ousted by the Party as opponents of both international Law and the Green Party positions?

Given that there were no clear or truthful grounds for the decision taken by the Committee, and no proper process followed, and hardly any information supplied by the deciding body, we call on the Green Party to immediately apologise to Tony Greenstein and annul the incorrect and shameful decision.

We also call upon the Party to clarify its rules, make then compatible with local and international law, and overhaul its faulty procedures so such decisions cannot be taken in such manner in the future.

We are convinced that the Green Party owes such clarity to its members, to the law-abiding Jewish community, and the Palestinians under the Zionist genocidal jackboot.

Signed for JNP and IJAN, David Cannon, Chair of JNP

Featured image via the Canary