UK Green member behind anti-Zionism motion ‘receives death threats’

Lubna Speitan, who has Palestinian roots, believes messages and emails are part of an effort to intimidate her.London, United Kingdom – The British-Palestinian woman behind the Zionism is racism motion, passed by the England-and-wales" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="97531" data-entity-type="organization">Green Party of England and Wales earlier this month, says she has received death and rape threats since the vote.In an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Green member Lubna Speitan, an artist and activist, said she has received dozens of ominous social media messages and emails, which she has reported to the police.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK Greens are wrong – Zionism is not racismlist 2 of 3Labour fends off the Green party in closely watched UK by-electionlist 3 of 3Greens leader seeks rule change after party declares Zionism is racismend of list“These threats were anticipated,” said Speitan, who believes they are a form of “intimidation” from pro-Israel agitators.While “no one wants to be on the receiving end of death threats”, she said it is “necessary to confront these evils”.The Greens passed the motion by 1,022 votes to 813 at their party conference in Brighton, but it has been criticised by virtually all other British political parties and has brought turmoil to the Greens.Several of its left-wing MPs have criticised the move, and on Thursday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham ruled out partnering with the party, calling the motion “wrong” and “anti-Semitic”.The motion defines Zionism, the belief that Jews have a historic claim to Palestine, as a form of racism, predicated on the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Palestinians made up more than 90 percent of the population in 1917, when Britain declared its support for a Jewish state in the country.The motion supports Palestinians’ right to self-determination and calls for the establishment of a single democratic state in historic Palestine for Muslims and Jews. It also says that anti-Zionism should not be equated with anti-Semitism.