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Anti-Semitism From a Jewish pro-Palestinian perspective
By: Ari Packer
Free_Palestine_Now@hotmail.com

An argument often used by Zionists in their defense of the state of Israel is that anti-Semitism motivates those who stand up for justice in Palestine and fight the Israeli oppression.  According to this argument made by the Zionists, the Palestinian Solidarity activists are not fighting the Israeli injustice out of deep moral conviction, which is rooted in fact, but are instead attacking Israel because of her Jewish character.  This argument is riddled with falsehoods and contradictions.
            First of all the facts and truths of what is going on in Palestine is what motivates people to criticize Israel not its Jewish character.  The denial of the right to the Palestinians to live as free and sovereign men and women is instead the motivating factor (see Spin by Ari Packer).  This conclusion that is drawn by the Palestinian solidarity activists is grounded in fact and reality, and it is not a falsehood being propagated to attack Israel because it is “Jewish.”  To be more specific pro-Palestinian activists are critical of the way the state of Israel was established because it resulted in having the colonial minority establish a state for that minority in a land that was made up of an indigenous majority of a different ethnic origin.  It is not because this colonial minority was made up of Jews.  However it is important to note that the establishment of this Jewish state was carried out by the western imperialist mainly the US and Great Britain who wanted to have a strategic alley in near east to maintain their hegemony in this region.

            Having said that the Zionists often point to a number of things to prove their case that anti-Semitism is behind the Palestinian Solidarity movement.  One of the Zionist’s most popular arguments is that the pro-Palestinian movement is focusing only on Israel when there are a number of states with a history of gross human rights violations e.g. China, Columbia, Burma, and others.  This Zionist argument is often used when referring to the Divestment from Israel campaigns.  The best adjective I can think to use to describe this argument is “silly.”  This is like saying people should not be practical.  If you look at political activists there are those who focus on a whole range of issues, there are those that focus on one category of issues for example global economic justice, there are those that focus primarily on one particular political issue.  A number of individuals are so deeply committed to one cause that they focus the vast majority of their time in political activism on that one cause that is so important to them.  A great number of people all over the world are so deeply committed to helping free the Palestinians from Israeli terror that they have decided for various reasons to focus on that one issue.  On the other hand there are a number of people that feel such identification with the oppressed people of Burma that they call for strengthening the US sanctions on Burma or more specifically the oppressive junta that rules Burma.  There are those people that are so committed to freeing the oppressed people of Tibet from the Chinese government’s military occupation that they campaign against Most Favorite Nation (MFN) status with China. These same advocates for Tibetan liberation may not necessarily spent too much time campaigning for sanctions against the Columbian government.  Having said that if I was to except this silly Zionist argument then my belief that the supporters of Israel are racist is proven right there.  A lot of Zionists spend most of their time criticizing the Palestinians and their officially recognized leadership.  Another words a lot of Zionists spend more time criticizing the Palestinian leadership than they do criticizing the leadership of any other nation by default according to this Zionist argument the defenders of the Israeli government’s crime must be racist towards Palestinians.

            Another thing that the Zionists like to use to promote their case, are the propaganda signs that are seen at Palestinian solidarity demonstrations.  They will take a picture of an anti-Semitic sign that is being held by a demonstrator at one of these demonstrations, and they will put the picture on their website.  Having been to a number of Palestinian solidarity demonstrations and having read about these demonstrations in depth I know for a fact that these signs are in the vast minority.  No evidence has ever been provided to prove that these signs make up even a sizeable minority of the signs being held at these protests.  Every protest is going to have its share of opportunist crazies. I have even experienced anti-Semites at anti-fascist demonstrations.  But what if one were to use these anti-Semites who make up .1% of the people at these anti-fascist demonstrations to discredit these anti-fascist protests as a whole?

            Besides the absurdity of this Zionist claim of anti-Semitism in the pro-Palestinian movement in general the supporters of the Israeli government have difficulty answering some really important questions.  First, at almost every Palestinian solidarity demonstration in the US there will be a sizeable Jewish pro-Palestinian contingent present. As far as Israeli solidarity demonstrations go there has always been a complete absence of a Palestinian pro-Israeli contingent present.  In addition, there is Jewish Palestinian solidarity groups springing up all over the country such as Not In My Name and Jews Against the Occupation.  Where are the Palestinian Israeli solidarity groups?

            Second, the Zionists have never to this day attested for the anti-Semitism from within the Zionist movement.  The Christian right, one of the most influential factions of the Republican Party are staunch Zionists yet extremely anti-Semitic at the same time.  In fact the Chicago chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) gave Pat Robertson author of the blatantly anti-Semitic “The New World Order” the State of Israel Friendship Award.

            In conclusion, the anti-Semitic label that the Zionists have opportunistically given to the Palestinian solidarity movement in bogus and hypocritical.  But the Palestinian solidarity movement must keep a watchful eye on the neo-Nazi and closet anti-Semitic ZOG parasites that wish to highjack the legitimate cause of Palestinian liberation to promote their sick hate mongering agenda.