In the middle of the last century there was such a thing as Zionist Terrorism but today, criticising Zionism is considered anti-Semitic. Given that Zionism is an ideology supported by many non-Semites, you do have to question why challenging this ideology is considered anti-Semitic at all?
According to Wikipedia, Zionism is both ‘an ideology and nationalist movement’ but it is never described as a religion or a peculiar trait of a specific racial group. Of course that brings me neatly onto the question of how anti-Semitism has become a label that exclusively references people who observe the Jewish faith. Technically, the term ‘Semite’ references a specific Semitic speaking, ethnic, cultural, racial group that lived throughout the ancient Near East, including the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa from the third millennium BC. In fact, according to Britannica, the term ‘Semites’ “came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes… Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa”
It’s as if, over the last few decades, the term Semite has been hi-jacked to exclusively reference people who observe the Jewish faith and even includes white European Jews, most of whom are unlikely to be able to trace their ancestry back to any of the historically Semitic ethnic, cultural or racial groupings. This then begs the questions that if most European Zionists are probably not even ethnically, culturally or racially Semitic, how has it become normalised to label any criticism of Zionism as anti-Semitic? For that matter, as Zionism is effectively an ideology that supports white European colonial occupation of Palestinian Arab lands, why is criticising white European Zionism considered anti-Semitic whilst the occupation and persecution of people who could actually trace their ethnicity, culture and racial grouping back to Semitic peoples not be considered anti-Semitic?
— Read on spotlight-newspaper.co.uk/politics/11/18/are-zionist-terrorists-a-protected-species/
Tag: Israel Zionist Zionism Palestine Palestinian
Condensed Labour Party GLU report on anti-Semitism (PART 1) | Spotlight News
Spotlight is currently working through the recently leaked 851 Labour Party report into the Party’s Governance and Legal Unit (in relation to antisemitism) to produce a more condensed and accessible version. Below is the first part of this condensed report. It includes a broad overview and starts by explaining how, prior to Jennie Formby’s appointment as General Secretary, there was no consistent system for logging and recording complaints or logging and recording disciplinary investigations. It also explains how Ian McNicol and senior GLU staff appeared to deliberately sit on cases and how some senior staff effectively saw themselves at war with the Leader’s Office and were provided false and misleading information. It then breaks down the numerous factions within the Labour Party and goes on to outline how Jeremy Corbyn’s outstanding success and newly found support was seen as a significant threat to the “Blairite politics of Progress” and explains how Labour party staff were using party resources and funds “to further the interests of one faction” within the party.
In this section we cover everything from internal opposition to the party’s campaigns and manifestos, the actions of certain members of staff who actively worked to undermine Corbyn and keep the left from gaining any influence or control, the role regional staff played in disciplinary cases including initiating cases, proposing decisions on cases as well as investigating and progressing cases (including the extent to which staff would stalk new members on social media in an attempt to remove people identified as from left wing factions), how staff were selected for appointments to the GLU and to senior posts and the vile and demeaning behaviour of some members of staff, including senior staff members, who would target other members of staff and even prepared to sack anyone they considered to be too “trotty”.
— Read on spotlight-newspaper.co.uk/politics/05/11/condensed-labour-party-glu-report-on-anti-semitism-part-1/
EU removes reference to ‘disputed’ territories in statement on Israel settlements – Middle East Monitor
The European Union (EU) deleted a reference to “disputed lands” from a statement issued yesterday condemning Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, reported the Times of Israel.
The initial version of the statement by Brussel’s new foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, issued via his spokesperson Peter Stano, urged Israel to case settlement activity on “occupied or disputed lands”.
Shortly afterwards, a second version was published with the reference to “disputed” deleted.
Stano claimed that the earlier version’s reference to “disputed lands” was due to a “human error”.
Israeli officials, and pro-Israel advocacy organisations, have often referred to the occupied Palestinian territory as “disputed”, as opposed to occupied, their status under international law.
US envoy: Next plan is to let Israel annex West Bank
— Read on www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200110-eu-removes-reference-to-disputed-territories-in-statement-on-israel-settlements/
The pro-Israel lobby in Britain: full text | openDemocracy
Every year, in a central London hotel, a very grand lunch is thrown by the Conservative Friends of Israel. It is often addressed by the Conservative leader of the day. Many members of the shadow cabinet make it their business to be there along with a very large number of Tory peers and prospective candidates, while the Conservative MPs present amount to something close to a majority of the parliamentary party. It is a formidable turnout.
This year’s event took place in June, with the main speech by Tory leader David Cameron and shadow foreign secretary William Hague in attendance. The dominant event of the previous twelve months had been the Israeli invasion of Gaza at the start of the year. So I examined Cameron’s speech with curiosity to see how he would handle that recent catastrophe.
— Read on www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/pro-israel-lobby-in-britain-full-text/
“Victoria Derbyshire forgot to mention her anti Corbyn guests are leading members of Likud-Herut UK, a far-right Zionist group.” – Nye Bevan News
“The BBC‘s Victoria Derbyshire programme recently hosted a 15 minute slot in which a couple called Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal were brought on to claim that Labour has produced such an atmosphere of threatening antisemitism in Britain that they are forced to leave for Israel.
What the BBC forgot to mention is that they are leading members of Likud-Herut UK, a far-right Zionist organisation that idolises the murderous leader of the Zionist Irgun terror gang, Menachem Begin. Indeed, Mandy Blumenthal is the National Director of Likud-Herut UK, but was instead introduced as a ‘property company director‘, while her partner was described merely as a ‘lawyer‘!
Public Services unions from across Europe call on European governments to suspend arms trade with Israel – Etun Palestine
Delegates at the European Public Service Union (EPSU) congress in Dublin on 5 June discussed the current situation in Palestine and the role of trade unions in peace building.
The overwhelming majority of trade unions present voted in favor of a resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state that provides quality public service to its citizens. The resolution emphasises that the occupation has denied any prospects of a viable Palestinian economy and has contributed to one of the world’s highest unemployment rates. The EPSU resolution also highlights the damaging impact of recent actions by the Trump administration, including the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Is This The Epicentre of Corbyn’s Antisemitism Story? – TruePublica
the story of Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism that sits with the same lies we are all immersed in these days in Britain. They are the slogans of division
— Read on truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/is-this-the-epicentre-of-corbyns-antisemitism-story/
TOM WATSON MP PROFILE – Dorset Eye
TOM WATSON MP PROFILE
A thorough investigation of Tom Watson MP:
• In June 2017, The Jewish Chronical reported on a message that Tom Watson had sent out to members of The Jewish Labour Movement, along with their annual report, in which he claimed that the Labour Party’s antisemitism ‘crisis’ had gotten “worse” over the past year. The Jewish Chronical called it “a damning indictment of leader Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle the issue”. Watson spoke of Ken Livingstone’s resignation, saying how he was “delighted that at long last” he was no longer a member of the Labour party and then added that he was also “pleased” that Marc Wadsworth had been expelled from the party. He then went on to say that, in his opinion, Jennie Formby had “staked her reputation” on dealing with antisemitism in the party and then he alleged that it wasn’t just a few individual cases of anti-Semitism. He believed, in fact, that it had “wider patterns of association” and he went on to say that in his opinion the leadership had a responsibility to consider what sort of messages they were sending out by their actions. By all accounts, this appeared to be a thinly veiled attack on the Labour Party leadership and on Corbyn’s allies.
— Read on dorseteye.com/tom-watson-mp-profile/
Video: 200 Israeli Nuclear Weapons Targeted against Iran – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization
Video: 200 Israeli Nuclear Weapons Targeted against Iran – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization
— Read on www.globalresearch.ca/video-israel-200-nuclear-weapons-targeted-against-iran/5641031
The decision by the United States to exit the Iranian nuclear agreement – signed in 2015 by Teheran with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – causes a situation of extreme danger not only in the Middle East.
To understand the implications of such decision, taken under pressure by Israel that describes the agreement as “the surrender of the West to the axis of evil led by Iran”, we must start from a precise fact: Israel has the Bomb, not Iran.
For over fifty years, Israel has been producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona plant, built with the help mainly of France and the United States. It is not subject to inspections because Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, does not adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed fifty years ago.
WHO sanitizes Israeli responsibility for Gaza killings | The Electronic Intifada
There were nearly 7,000 gunshot wounds among Gaza’s population of two million in the duration of a year.
Many of those injured have extensive and in some cases irreversible damage to their bones, neurovascular structures and soft tissue.
Among them, hundreds face amputations if they cannot access specialized tertiary treatment for their catastrophic wounds.
Three health workers have been killed and more than 700 others injured.
Thousands of elective surgeries were postponed as a health system already in crisis took in wave after wave of emergency casualties.
Cases of gender-based violence seen by service providers doubled as families struggled to cope with additional economic pressures and trauma.
These disturbing facts come from the World Health Organization’s review of trauma data related to the Great March of Return protests in Gaza which began in March 2018.
— Read on electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/who-sanitizes-israeli-responsibility-gaza-killings
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