A Merseyside councillor has quit the Green Party amid a row over Zionism.
Kieran Dams was elected to represent the party in the Waterloo ward after winning a seat in Sefton’s local elections but stood down barely five months into the post.
The 23-year-old’s decision came after the Greens passed a motion at its national conference in Brighton last week that considered Zionism to be a form of racism.
Zionism was defined in the motion as an ideology supporting ‘an ethnonationalist Jewish state’ and while the party backed a ‘single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine’.
Greens leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, insists that he will not accept anyone being excluded from the party on ground of their religious or communal background.
But Dams confirmed in a lengthy social media statement on Monday (October 5) that he is now acting as an independent councillor in light of the controversial vote.
He said: “I will always stand up for Palestinian freedom and speak out against the actions of the Israeli Government.
“But I can do that while standing with our Jewish community against antisemitism. We must be able to do both.
“I fear the Green Party is heading to a very dark place. I cannot follow it there.
“If that means my political career ends at 23, so be it.
“I’m not leaving Waterloo. I’ll still be here, taking up your casework, fighting your corner and doing everything I can for the community I love.”