contested terrain

Fear and loathing

From The New Internationalist

The first time I joined the struggle for Palestinian rights was at a rally in Trafalgar Square in 2002. Here was a place that I could be anonymous yet stand up in solidarity for what I believed in. I watched in horror, however, as the reactions unfolded to an Israeli-Jewish peace activist who took the platform. ‘The occupation is terror!’ she said. ‘It breeds despair in the hearts of young Palestinian boys and girls. But the suicide bombings are not helping the Palestinian struggle. Whoever is sending these kids – Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or Tanzim – plays into the hands of Sharon.’

At this, a group of young Muslim fundamentalists, some of them with empty toilet rolls strapped around their stomachs like dynamite, surged forward throwing bottles at the podium and chanting, ‘Scud, Scud, Israel! Gas, Gas, Tel Aviv!’ and in Arabic – ‘Death to Jews’. I was even more horrified to see that woman struggle on with her speech, unsupported. No-one sitting on the platform raised a finger to challenge such blatant racism. When she stepped down, the Chair took the microphone from her, commenting: ‘Well not all of us agree with the last speaker…’

The overwhelming feeling that I got from the mainstream British Left that day was not so much solidarity with the Palestinians as virulent hostility towards Israel, and by extension towards anyone who didn’t express shame to be Jewish or utterly reject a Jewish state.

Continue reading…

Hat tip to Uri Gordon

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm and is filed under anti-zionism, antisemitism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.