Zionism is Tarnished Goods

Celebrations of Zionist Apartheid Will Not Go Undisturbed

From Paris to London to Scotland and San Francisco, the message is clear. No longer will Zionism be allowed to go undisturbed and unhindered. However close their links with the police and however many security goons they employ and whatever the silky PR of Mark Regev, the message is the same. Zionism is tarnished goods. As more and more people understand that racism, in all its manifestations, must be opposed, so Zionist advocates will face an increasingly difficult time.

In France the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe decided to rename a promenade last Thursday April 15^th. And he chose Zionism’s primary war criminal, the chief ethnic cleanser and proponent of the expulsion of ¾ million Arabs in 1947-8, David Ben-Gurion, to name it after. Shimon Peres, Israeli President and acolyte of Ben Gurion’s, as well as father of the Israeli nuclear bomb and another war criminal, was the invited guest of honour. However things didn’t go to plan as there was, as is usual with the French, an innovative demonstration including a pleasure cruiser decked out with Palestinian flags on The Seigne,.

As the Jerusalem Post, which used to be on the left of the Zionist spectrum before Conrad Black took over(!), described what happened thus:

However, the dedication ceremony was not without incident. For several months prior to the event there had been attempts by Communists and pro-Palestinian elements to prevent the naming of the promenade after Ben Gurion.

In London the Zionist Federation held their annual jamboree at the Institute of Education on Monday 19^th April. This is the second such event in a couple of months at The Institute. You would think that being a place, not only of Higher Education, but one of the principle centres of teacher education in this country, that the Institute would think better than to allow a racist organisation to hold its meetings on its premises. Obviously the attraction of filthy lucre speakers louder than principles, despite the use of violence 2 months ago when David Bellamy was supposed to speak but cancelled at the last moment. See our report on what happened.

However the event turned into ‘another fine mess’ for the Zionist Federation’s own Oliver Hardy. In a rerun of the Bellamy meeting, it would appear that noone wants to turn up to play at Zionist Federation events any more!! Mira Awad, Israeli singer at the Eurovision Contest was originally invited. When she realised that she had been invited to celebrate the dispossession of her fellow Palestinians she quickly disinvited herself!

In a statement posted on Facebook Awad cited as her reason the “complexity of this date” - a reference to Israel’s 1947-48 ethnic cleansing of around 750,000 Palestinians which led to the creation of the Israeli state.

Likewise representatives for X-Factor runner-up Stacy Solomon announced that she would no longer be performing at the Zionist Federation’s “celebration of Israeli independence” on Monday.

Following Awad’s withdrawal, the Zionist Federation announced that X-Factor runner-up Stacey Solomon would perform instead. However as soon as Ms Solomon's agents got wind of the protest she also went down with a diplomatic illness!

It would seem that the only performer that was leftwas Jonathan Hoffman himself! Although Palestinian protestors, who hung a flag from the Institute and held a noisy demonstration, did their best to provide alternative entertainment for the guests. The price was also lowered from £50-75 a ticket to £10 – a bargain you might think, though given that Hoffman will perform anywhere where there is a Palestinian flag, possibly overpriced nonetheless.

Tony Greenstein