An open letter to Marie van der Zyl
JVL Introduction
Nothing can be more ‘awkward’ for the establishment Jewish community leaders, writes Robert A.H.Cohen, than the proposed Israeli annexation of big chunks of Palestinian land.
He skewers the Board of Deputies three-pronged defence of the ever increasingly indefensible by
- promoting a benign and victimless version of Zionism;
- defending any awkward behaviour by Israel by citing the need for Israeli security; and
- supporting two-states, which “has been a wonderful excuse for moral abdication. It’s a posture which allows you to focus on tomorrow’s peace rather than today’s injustice.”
In recent years the Board has steadfastly maintained its neutrality, in the interests of holding “the community” together, while Netanyahu has increasingly moved Israel towards ethno-national exclusivism. Today it mouths the same platitudes about the viability of the two-state solution even as Israel’s annexation plans finally destroy it before our very eyes.
Reminds one of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies which, in the interests of “holding the community together”, failed to condemn apartheid right up to 1985…
This article was originally published by Patheos on Sun 17 May 2020. Read the original here.
Dear Marie, claiming the Board is neutral on West Bank annexation should fool no one
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Excellent piece of journalism from Robert Cohen ..
Nothing to add – he says it all
In fact I believe that many MPs have condemned the
proposed annexation – including Margaret Hodge (?)
Thank you for a down to earth letter, that cannot be misunderstood.
Maybe we should write to Hodge and co welcoming them to a common concern in the spirit of conciliation…
Great letter – thank you Robert!
Brilliant letter. I would love to read the response
Terrific piece. The only thing I would add is that the speciousness of the BoD’s comments on annexation are matched by the speciousness of its claim to represent ‘the Jewish community’ in Britain.
That’ll make her choke on her bagel!! All true enough. Fact of the matter is that the Israeli State has done nothing to implement the Oslo Peace Accords over the last forty years or so and assassinated their co-author Yitzjak Rabin from which point it all went downhill. The point about the two state solution being largely irrelevant and just a fig leaf for Netanyahu’s colonialist takeover is well made.
Great response, but one question is missing: if the BoD want to hold the Jewish community together, why are non-Zionists declared to be “the wrong sort of Jews”? The Jewish community that the BoD speak of has already been purged and sanitised to exclude non-Zionists and even Zionist critics of Israel, using a variety of devices. And Jews are demonised for supporting the 3 aims of BDS which would bring Israel into line with international law (right of return, equal democratic rights for all within Israel, and an end to the military occupation of territories held since 1967). That is not exactly what “bringing the Jewish community together” is about, surely?
Extremely who written, I’d love to see this highlighted in major media! The BoD have much to answer for, and, too, our current Labour leadership, for supporting their ideas. Worst of all, the eager leap to accept the BoD’s rules imposed on the Party.
Why can’t Jews have their own state to practice their own religion.
The right of return would be the end of such Jewish State
‘Hurwitz’ is an antisemitic troll, since he affects to believe that Judaism necessarily includes the ‘right’ of Jews to plunder and murder the indigenous inhabitants of a country they colonize (next step the blood libel?). Lucien Wolf of the 1917 BoD. (what a degeneration has Zionism inflicted on that body) had the answer to this slander.