Na'amod decides that anti-Zionism, i.e. challenging Jewish supremacy is a step too far
Last Sunday I attended a webinar held by the
latest kid on the block Na'amod, which
styles itself as ‘British Jews against occupation’. Na'amod is not the first
such group to confine itself to Israel’s ‘occupation’ i.e. Israel’s rule over
the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
What declaring oneself against ‘the occupation’
means is making a distinction between the West Bank/ East Jerusalem and the rest
of Israel. As B’Tselem’s statement
made clear there is but one regime over the whole territory from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan River.
There are different rules and systems of
administration for Palestinians, depending on where they live, but everywhere Jews
have superior rights. Palestinians in pre-1967 Israel have an inferior version
of Israeli citizenship but it is superior to the military regime governing Palestinians
in Gaza and the West Bank. That is why Israel has repeatedly
tried to transfer Israeli Palestinians into the West Bank something that
they fear
is part of the Trump Plan.
Every part of Greater Israel is under one regime
whose guiding principle is Jewish supremacy.
Another word for Jewish supremacy is Zionism.
I say this because there were some in the
audience last Sunday who were clearly Zionists. One of them proclaimed in the
chat that ‘this is biased’ to which I
took objection. I explained the workings of the West Bank Mediterranean to the
Jordan River Gaza Trump Plan Greater Israel 1950 Absentee Property Law,
introduced by the Israeli Labor Party government, which enabled Palestinians to
be dispossessed by treating them as the Orwellian ‘Present Absentees’. In other
words even if they were present in the Israeli state and had not been expelled
they were to be treated as absent even if they had only fled a mile or so from
their village because of the fighting.
I explained that this law, which is being used to dispossess Palestinians in East Jerusalem has never been used against Jews. In other words it is a nakedly racist law. It would appear that this was too much for Naomi and her well meaning liberal Zionist friends.
Although no Zionist was removed after a short
time. I found myself ‘bumped’. Thinking that maybe it was my computer I
rejoined only to be thrown out again. The third time there was a notice that ‘the host has removed you’. Although Zionists
of any stripe were welcome at the meeting, anti-Zionists who made their views known
were not welcome.
To add insult to injury, ‘Naomi’ then wrote me a
letter
thanking me for my attendance at the webinar! It is clear from the letter, which
mentions Yachad and Peace Now by name that Na’mod represents an affirmation of Zionism,
not a break with this Jewish supremacy, by seeking to put create an artificial
distinction between Israel pre-1967 and Israel post-1967.
As B’Tselem makes clear, there is no Green Line between
Israel and the West Bank, neither physically nor on Israeli maps. It only
exists in the minds of Zionists in the West who use the fiction of ‘two states’
in order to justify the present Occupation. If Na’amod are genuinely sincere
about opposing the Occupation then they also need to abandon support for 2
states and Zionism.
2 states is supported by groups such as the Israeli
Embassy front Labour Friends of Israel and the Jewish Labour Movement, both of
which refuse to condemn any aspect of military rule in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
2 states exists solely in the minds of
those who wish to perpetuate military rule over 5 million Palestinians.
As Palestinians reject the 2 states paradigm
liberal Zionists cling to it ever more firmly. 2 States provides a smokescreen
for continued military rule over the West Bank and the expansion of settlements.
It is of course welcome that a new group has
sprung up amongst British Jews but it is not unique. Jews for Justice for Palestinians
are the original 2 state group and they have made little impression as their
politics have become rapidly outdated and irrelevant. JfJP have long sought,
for reasons I’ve never understood, affiliation to the Board of Deputies.
Yachad actually did manage to achieve
affiliation to the Board as it is an explicitly Zionist group unlike JfJP. Na’mod
will have to decide where it stands on the Jewish supremacist nature of Israel,
i.e. its Zionist nature. The omens don’t
seem good
Tony Greenstein
See Israel
Democracy Institute uncovers shocking racism in 'apartheid state'
Letter to Na’omod
Dear Naomi,
You don't need to thank me for joining you at
Sunday's webinar on Settlement Activity and Dispossession in East Jerusalem,
just as I don't need to thank you for the fact that I was 'bumped' from the webinar
for asking difficult questions and making certain observations about the causes
of the repression that your speakers were explaining to us.
What the two speakers, Mohammed El-Kurd and Sami
Ershied, were saying was very moving as was their description of their
experiences which is why it is a pity that you moved to prevent any discussion
of the causes of the demolitions, evictions and settler terrorism that they spoke
about.
However without seeking to tackle the causes of
their plight you will certainly not remedy the effects. I realise that you are
too young to remember Apartheid in South Africa but it is as if you were to
have condemned the brutal policies of the South Africa government in Soweto
without calling into question Apartheid itself.
I should add that nothing in the history of South
Africa Apartheid compares to the use by Israel of planes and missiles in bombing
refugee camps and ordinary peoples’ housing in Gaza, Jenin and elsewhere. Nor
is there any counterpart to the thousands of Palestinian homes which have been
demolished.
However horrific South Africa Apartheid was it
does not compare to the bloodshed and brutality of Zionism in Israel.
The dispossession and terror that the speakers experienced
at the hands of the settlers and the Israeli state did not come out of nowhere.
They are not an accident of god. They are the result of the Zionist Project
which, from its very inception, sought to remove the Palestinians from first
the land and then the country.
Zionism, unlike settler colonial movements in
Southern Africa, dressed this up in the language of 'mutual recognition', 'self
determination' and other euphemisms. Zionism was a Janus faced movement which
spoke with two tongues. Out of one face it preached mutual respect, brotherhood
of man and tolerance. Out of the other face it breathed transfer, expulsion,
massacre and dispossession.
This tactic of Zionism, which deliberately said
one thing and did another, was best summed up in the 1930 Hope-Simpson
Report which the British Government commissioned as a result of the 1929
riots in Palestine.
The effect of the Zionist colonisation policy
on the Arab.— Actually the result of the
purchase of land in Palestine by the Jewish National Fund has been that land
has been extraterritorialised. It ceases to be land from which the Arab can
gain any advantage either now or at any time in the future. Not only can he
never hope to lease or to cultivate it, but, by the stringent provisions of the
lease of the Jewish National Fund, he is deprived for ever from employment on
that land. Nor can anyone help him by purchasing the land and restoring it to
common use. The land is in mortmain and inalienable. It is for this reason that
Arabs discount the professions of friendship and good will on the part of the
Zionists in view of the policy which the Zionist Organisation deliberately
adopted.
I understand that Na’amod is connected to If Not Now as opposed to Jewish Voice for Peace which is an explicitly
anti-Zionist group. From what I understand Na'amod harbours illusions that it
can persuade synagogues to break away from the Board of Deputies.
The Board represents the most reactionary
section of British Jewry. British Jews themselves
have moved significantly to the right from the days, 80 years ago, when Jews formed
the backbone of the left. Ever since the
1960’s, with the temporary exception of the Blair years, British Jewry has
voted overwhelmingly for the Conservatives in the past half a century.
We saw the results of this with the fake anti-Semitism attacks
on Labour’s most left-wing leader ever, Jeremy Corbyn.
The question is whether you are going to following
the path of Yachad and try to reconcile Zionism
with Justice and Peace or whether you are going to follow B’Tselem which has
concluded that the Israeli state is an Apartheid State.
It is a stark and binary choice but any other
decision and you will be fooling yourself and others. Zionism has always been a Jewish Supremacist
movement and Labour Zionism, its ‘left-wing’ has been the most racist of all.
The choice is yours.
Tony Greenstein
Letter from Na’mod
Thank you for joining us at Sunday's webinar on
Settlement Activity and Dispossession in East Jerusalem, co-hosted with Free
Jerusalem.
Free Jerusalem have contributed to this document, which provides more detailed information
about the dispossession of Palestinians and settlement activity ongoing in East
Jerusalem.
If you were unable to attend the event live,
would like to watch it back or wish to send it on, you can find the recording here.
We were extremely grateful for the chance to
hear from Mohammed El-Kurd and Sami Ershied, J.D, and for the excellent
questions asked by many of the attendees. One of the questions which came up
several times was, 'How can I help?'
If you are in the UK, please write to your MP
and ask them to raise this issue with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and to
attend the APPG Palestine parliamentary briefing on this issue. This is being
held on Wednesday 3rd February 2-3pm, with Mohammed joined by Hagit Ofran from
Peace Now's Settlement Watch. Yachad have prepared a template which you can use for this.
We have seen that international pressure can and
does work: in 2011, an international campaign forced the Jewish National Fund
(KKL) to delay the eviction of the Sumarin family from their home in Silwan.
Under the latest evictions orders, the family are once again facing
displacement from their own home and their community at the hands of the JNF.
If you are Jewish, please consider joining our movement. We are British Jews making our voices
heard: the occupation must be opposed by our community with Actions not Words.
We are a grassroots movement and depend on
donations from our supporters to cover our costs and continue our work. If you
can support us with a donation we would be incredibly grateful.
Please look out for our next webinar, which will
be held next month!
Na'amod
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