BY Henry Maitles, Emeritus Professor in Education, University of the West of Scotland, and member of Scottish Jews for a Just Peace
HOW should we react to the charges of anti-Semitism racking the Labour Party? Of course, it is not only directed at the Labour Party; we are told that the entire pro-Palestinian left is anti-Semitic. It was explained explicitly in the recent controversial Panorama programme: anti-Israel and anti-Zionism are to be seen as bywords for anti-Semitism. When we say we oppose Israel and want a democratic state in the Middle East for Jews and Palestinians, this is said to be a secret code for anti-Jewish racism. And, this loose linking of critique of Israel with anti-Semitism has led to a dampening of reporting on, for example, Israeli sniper policy at the Gaza border and this month’s demonstrations against racism in Israel by Ethiopian Jews last week.
It is not easy to respond to this, because any defence, however slight, is greeted with howls of rage and a charge of anti-Semitism. However, it would be irresponsible and wrong to suggest that there is no anti-Semitism on the left and we need to insist that where anti-Semitism is found it has to be rooted out. But, we should not allow racism in general to be excused by support for Israel; racists across the globe feel they have a “get out of jail card” if they support Israel. Donald Trump, Jair Bolsanaro, Viktor Orban, Marine Le Pen, Tommy Robinson and others are all strong supporters of Israel who have dubious at best and outright racist at worst attitudes. Anti-Semitism must be seen in terms of the drift towards racism across the world. Those who organize campaigns against Roma in Europe, encourage Islamophobia, tell minorities to “go back to their own country”’, organised the Windrush repartriation and are willing to let refugees drown are all strong supporters of Israel. They claim – “racist? No, we support Israel”.
Historically, Jews and the left in general have long been divided over attitudes towards Israel since 1948 and Zionism as a political philosophy since the end of the 19th century. Until the Holocaust, Zionism was a minority position in major Jewish communities around the world. Even amongst Jewish refugees from the anti-Semitic Russian Empire in the late 19th Century, most wanted to go west to Germany, France, the UK or the United States.
After the Holocaust and the lack of any desire from the victorious powers to settle Jewish refugee survivors, quite understandably Zionism and Israel took on a much stronger pole of attraction amongst Jews. The problem though was that the land that the Jewish settlers wanted had a majority Arab population. Some 800,000 were forced out to create a Jewish majority in the new state of Israel – ethnic cleansing. They demand the right to return. One possible solution is to look towards one democratic state.
This, though, is now deemed to be anti-Semitic as, according to the IHRA definition, it denies Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state – as opposed to a democratic state for all peoples in the area. There are two ironies in all this: first, Israeli settlement policy and the 2018 Nationality Law has made a two-state solution virtually impossible; secondly, one of the most prominent left supporters of two states and Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is… Jeremy Corbyn.
So, we have to support the rooting out of anti-Semitism wherever it exists and support the rights of the Palestinians both inside and outside Israel as to their human, legal and democratic rights.
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