It’s Time to Name Anti-Palestinian Bigotry
JVL Introduction
Accusations of antisemitism against outspoken critics of Israel in America’s House of Representatives come thick and fast.
But says Peter Beinart, writing in Jewish Currents, search for any suggestion that their critics might be “anti-Palestinian”. You’re unlikely to find it.
“That’s strange,” says Beinart in studied understatement, “because the evidence that the Squad’s critics are anti-Palestinian is far stronger than the evidence that the Squad is anti-Jewish.”
He then spells out exactly why he makes this statement and shows that anti-Palestinianism is not only commonplace not just in Congress, but across American society.
This is a powerful and important contribution on a topic as neglected in the UK as in the States
This article was originally published by Jewish Currents on Fri 16 Jul 2021. Read the original here.
It’s Time to Name Anti-Palestinian Bigotry
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Good news! The “Complaint by UK Lawyers For Israel about Channel 4 News” has been rejected by Ofcom. The programme, you may recall, included a report on the experience of British Palestinian people in the UK and how the community was perceived by others – including UKLFI.
A longish report, summarised by Ofcom in theee words: “Ofcom has not upheld this complaint about unjust or unfair treatment in the programme as broadcast”. Worth a read.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/222109/complaint-uk-lawyers-for-israel-channel-4-news-14-december-2020.pdf
This just confirms that these organisations “for Israel” want to silence the Palestinians. If you can’t justify Israeli settler colonialism try rewriting history or erasing the experience of its victims. If that doesn’t work demonise them as antisemitic terrorists. Avoid any discussion about what is happening on the ground in Israel and the occupied territories at all costs.
It’s sad that the squad are the best that the Palestinian people can expect at the moment. These politicians’ support for the Palestinian cause is, at most, tepid. To take two of them:
“In recent days the left has expressed keen disappointment that star progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an author of the Green New Deal and member of the DSA, went soggy on Palestine, offering an empty speech about people’s rights and refusing to criticize Israel in an interview with a leader of the Israel lobby.”
https://israelpalestinenews.org/why-aoc-panders-israel-lobby-progressive-except-palestine/
“When Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley cast her vote in favour of Resolution 246, which condemns the Palestinian call for global solidarity in the form of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), many activists expressed disappointment, outrage and surprise.
Most had assumed that Pressley, the first-year congresswoman from Massachusetts and a member of the “Squad”, the team of rookie women-of-colour politicians dubbed “the future of the Democratic Party”, would support organising for Palestine.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/whats-behind-ayanna-pressleys-anti-bds-vote