Is Zionism Racism?

Is Zionism Racism?

Britain's Green Party has declared Zionism a form of racism. The motion, passed at its Brighton conference by 1,022 votes to 813, makes the party officially anti-Zionist and backs a single democratic state in historic Palestine.
 
The reaction was fierce. Former leader Caroline Lucas spoke against it. Most Green MPs rejected it. Israel banned party leader Zack Polanski, though he did not vote. Much of the press called it “extremism”.
 
But what does Zionism actually mean? Does it mean different things to different people? And is branding Zionism "racism" a necessary premise to dismantle systems of oppression, or a missed opportunity?

Israeli anthropologist Jeff Halper, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and co-founder of the One Democratic State Campaign, explains why he backs the motion’s substance, but thinks a diff headline could have achieved more.