The Home Affairs Committee has just produced a report into Anti-Semitism. There is a huge amount of confusion about the subject. This report does not help. National PSC has given a reply here.
I want to take up just one point.
Under conclusions and recommendations (page 50) there is this sentence ‘The word Zionist or worse Zio as a term of abuse however has no place in civilised society.’
The practice of Zionism as implemented by successive Israeli Governments includes the following
1. Ethnic cleansing of about 700,000 Palestinians in 1948.
2. Systematic land theft in Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967.
3. Theft of water from Palestinian lands.
4. A systematic illegal house building program for Israelis on stolen land.
5. The blockade of Gaza, the destruction of its economy and periodic devastating attacks.
6. A systematic system of barriers in the West Bank that make travel for Palestinians very difficult.
7. The establishment of an Apartheid regime in the area that Israel controls.
Let me expand on the last one. There are roads that Palestinians are not allowed to drive on. There are areas that Palestinians are not allowed to live. There is a separate system of law for Palestinians.
Three fourteen year olds who came to dance in Sheffield have been arrested. We think it is for throwing stones. They will be charged in a military court. In the unlikely event that an Israeli was charged for the same act, (s)he would be tried in a civilian court.
There is a set of clauses from the UN that define what is Apartheid. The clauses of freedom of movement alone shows Israel is imposing an Apartheid state.
Desmond Tutu said “I am especially urging the Assembly to adopt the overture naming Israel as an apartheid state through its domestic policies and maintenance of the occupation [of Palestinian lands]….”
“In the situation that exists today, until a Palestinian state is created, we are actually one state. This joint state — in the hope that the status quo is temporary — is an apartheid state,” Alon Liel Ex Israeli Ambassador to South Africa
We in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign oppose all racism. The claim of the Israeli Government that it represents all Jews, and that it acts in the interests of all Jews is manifestly untrue, deeply offensive and breeds anti-Semitism. Jews are not responsible for Apartheid Israel. Probably the most important figure in the establishment of Israel was the Anti-Semitic Balfour. He introduced the Aliens Act of 1905 to prevent Jewish refugees from coming to Britain.
I regard the practice of Zionism in creating Israeli Apartheid deeply offensive. How do I use the word in a non abusive way?
The Tory Party supported South African Apartheid till very late.
It would be very nice if it did not wait as long to oppose Israeli Apartheid.