Three north London MPs have challenged a Green councillor who backed the controversial motion “Zionism is racism,” warning it has caused anger among Jewish and non-Jewish residents, and asking her to explain her support for it.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson and Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky have written to Green councillor Charli Thompson after she publicly backed the motion, which was adopted as Green Party policy last weekend.
In a strongly worded letter seen by the JC, the MPs stated: “The decision to define Zionism as racism has alienated Jewish residents”.
The motion has sparked widespread condemnation from Jewish leaders and senior politicians for being “racist” and “antisemitic”.
In Barnet, Britain's most Jewish borough, 14.5 per cent of residents are Jewish, and MPs are asking how the Greens and Thompson can “reconcile” support for the motion “with your duty to represent our diverse and tolerant community.”
Thompson, who represents Woodhouse ward, told the Barnet Post this week: “Opposition to Zionism is not opposition to Jewish people or Judaism, and I will always challenge antisemitism.”
Asked what she would say to Barnet Jews who are Zionists and anti-racists, she said: “I personally find those positions difficult to reconcile, given my understanding of Zionism as an ethnonationalist political project, but it is not for me to tell anybody how they should identify.”
Her support for the motion has now prompted a direct challenge from the three MPs, two of whom, Sackman and Pinto-Duschinsky, are Jewish.
In their letter, they said the motion had been met with “anger by Jewish and non-Jewish people”.
They wrote: “Most British Jews define Zionism, at its heart, as the right for self-determination for Jewish people. It is not for any political party to define an identity in a radically different way to those who hold it.”
The MPs acknowledged that there “must be space for criticism of the Israeli government, and advocacy for Palestinian rights and self-determination,” but such debate “must also recognise the rights, dignity and security of Jewish people.”
They raised concerns about the timing of the motion amid surging antisemitism.
“This is particularly pertinent amid a rise in antisemitic hatred across the world since the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, which has seen Jewish people, institutions and synagogues targeted in our local area.”
“Jewish and non-Jewish people who support the Jewish right to self-determination are now regarded by the Green Party as racist.
“Residents in Woodhouse, and across Barnet, should feel their elected representatives have their best interests at heart. Other Green MPs and councillors have rightly disavowed the motion. To us, your public support raises serious questions and is at odds with the values of our borough. Please explain how you reconcile your position with your duty to represent our diverse and tolerant community.”
The JC has approached Thompson for comment.
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