Standing Together and the politics of purity
JVL Introduction
The Green Party has refused to allow a fringe meeting organised by UK Friends of Standing Together at its October conference.
The reason is because the party supports BDS and one of the groups that the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi) has in its sights is Standing Together in Israel, accusing it of being “an Israeli normalization outfit that seeks to distract from and whitewash Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza”.
But is it and does it?
Simon Pearson does not accept this characterisation of Standing Together.
While supporting the general boycott tactic he argues that
“The difficulty comes when a boycott directed towards institutions and structures begins deciding which opponents of Israeli policy are sufficiently acceptable to be heard.
“Standing Together makes that question unavoidable because its activists are not sitting around discussing coexistence while ignoring what is happening outside. They have protested against the Gaza war, confronted settlers and the Israeli far right, defended aid convoys travelling towards Gaza and supported Palestinian communities threatened by settler violence. The organisation campaigns against occupation and racism inside Israel and supports Palestinian national rights and equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel. Whatever criticism can be made of its politics, it is difficult to dismiss this as an Israeli government public-relations exercise with a peace badge attached.”
He is not alone in his criticism. Peter Beinart made a similar argument in Feb 2024 and this web editor asked in a JVL discussion on normalisation in mid-2025:
“Who speaks for movements of the oppressed and with what authority? Who speaks for Palestinians today? Our solidarity with those struggling against oppression has to be solid and forceful – but not uncritical. We support BDS but have to make our own evaluations as to whether certain groups or activities are “normalising” the situation and are therefore legitimate targets for BDS.”
This question will not go away. Palestinians do not, unfortunately speak with one voice. Standing Together is a formidable force among young Palestinians in Israel. Palestinians in the BDS movement excoriate it.
JVL has not taken a position on this important topic and welcomes contributions to the debate.
This article was originally published by Anti-Capitalist Musings on Sun 30 Aug 2026. Read the original here.
Standing Together and the politics of purity
The exclusion of Standing Together at the Green Party conference exposes an uncomfortable argument on the left about BDS, anti-Zionism and who gets to speak for Palestinian solidarity.
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Is this the same Simon Pearson I have known for ten years on the Camden left, without knowing about this blog? But its subscriptions are in dollars, so maybe there’s another Simon Pearson…
I’m sharing this excellent article with Green members who have supported Standing Together and are sad that its stall has been rejected.
JVL has managed a nuanced position which I agree with. At the same time there is something Simon P misses out here but which Richard K alluded to in our JVL discussions. That is, the particular stance taken up by UK Friends of Standing Together. I’m sorry that they have come up against sectarian banning (and often worse, aggressive disruption of meetings). But imo they are too likely to stress their opposition to BDS and not the aims they hold in common with the Palestine solidarity movements , which are many and various. Until last week in fact I had only encountered people who were using their membership of UK Standing Together as a reason NOT to join the rest of the Jewish Bloc for Palestine on our marches. And those UK Friends of ST were wrongly characterising the BDS movement as annihilationist.
I wonder if JVL could possibly provide a forum where these positions could be discussed and misunderstandings cleared up, or is it too late?
Another though less important point at issue with Simon (because it’s a matter of opinion and not a matter of fact) is his worry that BDS may be particularly likely to attract accusations of antisemitism. Frankly every single effort to rein in the military aggression of Israel over the last many decades has been met with that accusation by the misguided die-hard supporters of that country (whether Jewish or not). But perhaps Simon means something else? I hope the discussion can continue.
I don’t know about the UK, but here in the US, the Greens are mostly the useful idiots of the Republican Party. They fight to keep their suburban hiking trails. Attempt nothing substantial and refuse to participate strategically in electoral politics. In other words, an enormous waste of time and resources.
Given the controversy related to Standing Together, I can understand why the Green Party do not want to be seen fully supporting them. However, I would like to think that most individual Green Party members are supportive of the work carried out by Standing Together and similar groups based inside Israel.
Somon Pearson says that ‘A party that makes Palestinian solidarity and anti-Zionism a prominent part of its political identity has a responsibility to distinguish those politics sharply from antisemitism.’ Why? Is it not obvious that support for the Palestinians and anti-Zionism are anti-racist whereas anti-Semitism is racist? Or is it because Zionists have nothing else to shout?
Pearson also misses the point about Friends of Standing Together UK. I accept that in Israel ST have done valuable work. No one can deny it, even though it has the non-Zionist politics of its main sponsor, Hadash.
But Friends of ST is a different creature altogether. Who is on its Steering Committee? Elise Benjamin, an out and out Zionist who is a supporter of the colonisation of the Occupied Territories and a purveyor of the myth that Hamas carried out a rape offensive on October 7. She is no different from a genocide supporter.
Others involved include the social imperialist AWL who openly support a Jewish Supremacist State.
We should have nothing to do with the Friends Group but our response to Israel’s Standing Together group is a different matter altogether. We don’t have to support it to recognise the valuable work it does and has done.
That is a nuanced position that has entirely escaped Somon Pearson.