George Monbiot presents a compelling case supporting Paddy Ashdown's recent comments that a wider Middle East peace can never be negotiated by the Americans (see here).
I wonder if there's any truth in this statement, levied at the powerful evangelical Christian groups and Jewish American organisations who lobby so hard in Israel's favour: "Those who oppose the policies of the Israeli government are accused of hating Jews."
That means my opposition of Israel's policies and my anger at its government's aggressive stance makes me anti-semitic in these groups' eyes. Back in the 1940s the Jews suffered horribly - unforgiveably - at the hands of the Nazis. I abhor what happened to them, just as I abhor the general feelings of anti-semitism that preceded them across Europe and the world. I abhor anti-semitic rants in much the same way I abhor any acts of prejudice. But if a sovereign government responds to terrorist threats by bombing innocent civilians without any thought of the wider consequences, well I damn well abhor them too. I condemn Israel for its actions, not its religion or its history. It would help if US politicians grew a backbone and did the same thing...
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2 comments:
I'm an israeli PhD student living in switzerland.
Everybody has the right to condemn Israel naturally. I believe, however, that if the criticizer comes from the UK, and does not condemn the UK as well, he should be blamed for hypocracy, instead of anti-semitism. This is since as far as i know, when the UK had recently acted against its own terrorist threats in Iraq and Afhganistan the deathtoll among civilians was much much higher. Just the TV coverage was different.
It's a fair point, but if you read the rest of my blog you'll see I'm highly critical of the UK government, and have been since before we actually went to war in Iraq.
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