Pro-Palestine Greens call for former leader Caroline Lucas to be ousted over ‘Zionism is racism’ motion criticism

Pro-Palestine Green members have reportedly called for Caroline Lucas to be ousted from the party in WhatsApp messages accusing the former leader of being a “shill for apartheid and genocide”.

Ms Lucas, who served as the party’s leader from 2008 to 2014 and co-leader from 2016 to 2018, has been a vocal critic of the motion passed at the Greens’ conference last week determining that ‘Zionism is racism’.

In messages seen by The Telegraph, members of Greens for Palestine called Ms Lucas “revolting” for raising concerns about the controversial motion to the media, and urged others to submit formal complaints against her to the party.

It comes after she told the BBC’s Any Questions programme that Mr Polanski should apologise for missing the motion vote and “for the hurt that has been caused to so many people”.

She also suggested there had been “entryism”, in which activists joined the Greens solely to back last weekend’s motion rather than because they supported the party, and called for the author of the motion Lubna Speitan to be suspended pending an investigation after it was revealed she had links to an al Qaida terrorist serving jail time in the US.

One activist in the group wrote: “Lucas needs to be removed. She's toxic, divisive, and a shill for apartheid and genocide.”

Another accused her of receiving “massive kudos from the media giving them plenty of ammunition” by criticising the motion.

Messages also showed Greens for Palestine members discussing formal complaints against Ms Lucas for what they believed was a breach in party code.

A spokesperson for Greens for Palestine said: “Last week the Green Party of England & Wales voted to recognise Zionism as a racist, settler colonial ideology.

“The same media who have spent the last three years covering for the genocide in Gaza, are now trying to smear and rip apart the only major party in the UK with enough courage to fully oppose settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing and genocide in occupied Palestine. The smears won't work."

The motion passed at the Brighton conference with about 1,000 members voting in favour and some 800 against.

Ms Lucas, who was also the party’s first MP, said she had “serious concerns” about the motion, branding it as “dangerous”, and “divisive”.

Mr Polanski sought to distance himself from the vote on Friday, saying he would only have supported an amended motion.

He told Sky News: “Ultimately, I agree with the substance of the motion. Where I disagree is the idea the Green Party should be deciding what the future of the region looks like.”

But his stance on the motion has brought calls for him to resign, with the chair of the Jewish Greens, Vivien Lichtenstein, saying she was considering leaving the party and criticised his failure to take part in the debate as a “dereliction of duty”.

A YouGov poll published on Friday found 47 per cent of people who voted Green at the last election thought he should remain leader, with only 22 per cent saying he should go.

But among the wider public, only 20 per cent said he should stay as leader and 34 per cent said he should resign, with 47 per cent telling the pollster they were unsure.