{"id":41906,"date":"2023-12-11T14:53:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T14:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/?p=41906"},"modified":"2023-12-13T11:27:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T11:27:28","slug":"does-anti-zionism-equal-antisemitism-only-if-you-cant-do-the-maths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redpepper.org.uk\/global-politics\/palestine-middle-east\/does-anti-zionism-equal-antisemitism-only-if-you-cant-do-the-maths\/","title":{"rendered":"Does anti-Zionism equal antisemitism? Only if you can\u2019t do the maths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US Congress on 5 December passed what may be its most anti-Semitic ever resolution \u2013 in the name of combating hatred against Jews. Two months into a war on Gaza that the UN calls<\/a> \u2018a genocide in the making\u2019, Resolution 894<\/a>, which was approved by a 311-14 majority<\/a>, \u2019clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may have signal rather than legal force but the resolution\u2019s overwhelming approval sends a chilling message ahead of the proposed creation of a new Congressional body on antisemitism with powers to compel Americans to testify and give evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Falsely stating that anti-Zionism is antisemitism conflates all Jews with the Israeli state and endangers our communities,\u2019 tweeted<\/a> Jewish Voice for Peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This conflation has long been the sine qua non<\/em> for antisemites who seek to blame all Jews for the actions of a state that only a minority of them <\/em>\u2013 Israeli Jews \u2013 can vote for. That\u2019s why meaningful definitions of antisemitism, such as the Jerusalem Declaration<\/a>, censure \u2018holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel\u2019s conduct\u2019 and avoid what it calls \u2018undue emphasis\u2019 on Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, vague and woolly analogues such as the 2006 European Union Monitoring Centre\u2019s (EUMC) working definition of antisemitism<\/a> \u2013 which formed the basis of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) version<\/a> \u2013 muddy the waters to the benefit of pro-Israel advocates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A US state department adaptation of the EUMC draft<\/a> in 2010 lists as examples of antisemitism: \u2018Blaming Israel for all inter-religious or political tensions, applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation, [and] multilateral organizations focusing on Israel only for peace or human rights investigations.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of these examples necessarily involves discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews for being Jewish. Any of them could chill legitimate debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The false equivalence between Jews and Zionists<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But the Congressional resolution goes further. By explicitly drawing an equivalence between Jews and Zionists, it effectively makes support for ethnic cleansing, apartheid, land seizures and collective punishment into protected Jewish characteristics. They are not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-Zionism is still a tenet of faith for many ultra-orthodox Jews, who view the creation of the state as heretical before the Messiah\u2019s return. In fact, the Agudath Israel World Organisation which had official pre-war recognition in the parliaments of Poland, Lithuania and Romania, actually petitioned the UN against recognising Israel in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the largest secular Jewish party in swathes of pre-war eastern Europe was the Bund, a socialist and fiercely anti-Zionist party. On the eve of the Holocaust in 1938, it won 17 out of the 20 Warsaw city council seats<\/a> taken by Jewish parties.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these Jews \u2013 including members of my family \u2013 died in the Nazi genocide. Were they antisemites? Would this Congress not have made a distinction between them and the fascists who murdered them? Apparently not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To please Tel Aviv and its backers in Washington, the 5 December Congress resolution spits on their memory and goes after their spiritual descendants, the thousands of anti-racist Jews who blockaded New York\u2019s Grand Central station<\/a> and the Manhattan bridge<\/a> in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat to all Palestinians and their supporters <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As well as Jews \u2013 and by design \u2013 the Congressional resolution takes aim at the free speech of all Palestinians, and their supporters. While it references the events of 7 October, the roots of the Israel-palestine conflict go back further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s creation on its current territory in 1948 was made possible by the expulsion of around 750,000 Palestinians. Their homes and land were seized by the Israeli state. Palestinian refugees were not allowed to return, but any Jew could migrate to Israel and claim citizenship. Political Zionism was the ideology that strategised, enabled and defended this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palestinians cannot support it without denying their own right to their own ancestral land. For this, the Congressional resolution brands them Jew haters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns reality on its head to label opposition to ethnic cleansing and apartheid as racism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Husam Marajda from the US Palestinian Community Network decried it as a bid to \u2018cancel\u2019 pro-Palestinian advocates by labelling their discourse as hate speech. \u2018It\u2019s super dangerous,\u2019 he told Al-Jazeera<\/a>. \u2018It sets a really, really bad precedent. It\u2019s aiming to criminalise our liberation struggle and our call for justice and peace and equality.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation is precisely what supporters of the IHRA definition<\/a> of antisemitism assured everyone would not happen when they pushed for its adoption. The IHRA\u2019s examples suggested that \u2018denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination\u2019 might<\/em> be antisemitic, but only depending on the context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018new antisemitism\u2019 and the escalation of the suppression of free speech <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the definition was underwritten by the \u2018new antisemitism\u2019 theory which posits Israel as the \u2018Jew of the nations<\/a>\u2019. It is already driving  a major suppression of free speech. A recent survey<\/a> found that 82 per cent of almost a thousand US academics surveyed censor themselves when they talk about the Israel-Palestine issue. Eleven percent said they restrained themselves from criticising Palestinians \u2013 and 81 per cent held back from criticising Israel.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This figure is set to rise significantly. Anyone commenting on Israel-Palestine will soon have to consider how their words may be construed under the bipartisan Commission to study acts of antisemitism in the US Act<\/a>. This proposes<\/a> the creation of a new Congressional body with broad subpoena authority to force Americans to testify and give evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran peace activist Richard Silverstein called it<\/a> \u2019a dangerous McCarthyite attempt to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel,\u2019 and compared it to the infamous House of Un-American Activities<\/a> (HUAC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anti-Zionism is still a tenet of faith for many ultra-orthodox Jews, who view the creation of the state as heretical
CREDIT: Alisdare Hickson<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A storm of islamophopic and anti-Palestinian racism<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, the 7 October attack unleashed a storm of racism which needs to be addressed. The conflict has been linked to the murder of a six-year-old Palestinian boy<\/a> in Illinois, the shootings of three Palestinian students in Vermont<\/a> and, potentially, to the death of a 69-year-old Jewish pro-Israel protestor<\/a> after being hit with a megaphone when two opposing Gaza rallies faced off in Los Angeles.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the proposed Commission only deals with antisemitism, not Islamophobia or anti-Palestinian racism. One of its sponsors, the Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, falsely claimed that the slogan \u2018From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u2019 meant \u2018eradicating Israel and Jews. Period.\u2019 Another sponsor, the Ohio Republican Max Miller sparked outrage when he said<\/a>: \u2018We\u2019re going to turn [Palestine] into a parking lot.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sort of anti-racism is that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragic bad maths of the stripped-down equation that \u2018anti-Zionism = antisemitism\u2019 answers no questions posed by oppressed people. It is just applauded by pro-Israel lobbies in the US such as AIPAC<\/a> and the Anti-Defamation League<\/a>. The equation is banner-headlined in Israel by the Jerusalem Post<\/em><\/a>, in the US by the Wall St Journal<\/em><\/a> and, here, by the Spectator<\/em><\/a> and Daily Telegraph<\/em><\/a>. It turns reality on its head to label opposition to ethnic cleansing and apartheid as racism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel losing the PR war  <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In truth it is a cynical response to the fact that for all its lobby firepower, establishment support, media buy-in and ability to intimidate, Israel is losing the PR war. It is doing so because the  slaughter of thousands of innocent women and children evokes popular disgust.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new antisemitic genuflection to conflating Jews with Zionists in pro-Israel lobbying will not change that. But we can at least hope that it will point some people back to the original conflation at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conundrum, which makes any solution to the conflict so intractable: the notion of \u2018the Jewish State\u2019 itself.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A censorship roll call<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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It would take a book to list all the groups and individuals censored for defending Palestinians since 7 October. But prominent individuals include Nurit Peled-Elhanin<\/a>, Meir Baruchin<\/a>, Michael Eisen<\/a>, Nathan Thrall<\/a>, Viet Thanh Nguyen<\/a>, Adania Shibli<\/a>, Mehdi Hasan<\/a>, Susan Sarandon<\/a>, Avi Shlaim<\/a>, Andy McDonald MP<\/a>, Paul Bristow MP<\/a>, David Velasco<\/a>, Yuval Carasso<\/a>, Ryna Workman<\/a>, Maha Dakhil<\/a> and Melissa Barrera<\/a>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeted groups in the US include Workers United<\/a> (the Starbucks union), the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights<\/a> and Students for Justice in Palestine<\/a>. Billionaires have even called<\/a> for the blacklisting of Harvard students who signed a petition blaming Israel\u2019s occupation for the 7 October attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, the situation is worse, with attacks, detentions and harassment common. Jewish peace activists describe<\/a> facing \u2018violent fascist persecution that increasingly resembles the junta regimes of the 1970s in Latin America\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 100 Palestinian students have reported<\/a> repression based on social media posts. Dozens of academic disciplinary cases launched. One Jewish journalist, Israel Frey, went into hiding<\/a> after a mob surrounded his house, aiming fireworks at his windows. His offence was saying kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, for civilians in Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The director of Petah Tikva hospital\u2019s cardiac intensive care unit was\u00a0suspended<\/a>\u00a0for an online profile picture of a dove carrying an olive twig and a green flag with the shahada declaration of faith. Peace activists have even been arrested for putting up posters\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0\u2019Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Reliable sources of uncensored information, analysis and opinion <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the context of suppression of voices supporting Palestine or criticism of Israel here are reliable, uncensored  sources of news and analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n