What should Solidarity Look Like?
JVL Introduction
Dr. Ramzy Baroud’s insightful article about what is needed from the Solidarity Movement with Palestine presents some challenges for all supporters of Palestinian rights to consider but in particular for Jewish supporters, eg he asks all of us to reflect on which Palestinians we should work with and his questions about “knowing how and when, if at all, to engage with smear campaigns and fraudulent ‘dialogues’ on … anti-Semitism” are especially significant for JVL and our sister groups.
We agree with Baroud that the Movement’s energy is needed elsewhere than addressing smear campaigns. Despite that, the Movement also cannot ignore the issue as eliding anti-Zionism, and even criticism of the actions of the Israeli State, with antisemitism is a deliberate tactic in which advocates for Israel have been trained since the early 1980s to silence voices calling for justice for Palestine. As a Jewish organisation we have a responsibility to do the heavy lifting to address the weaponisation of antisemitism which the rest of the movement are inhibited from so doing.
We agree with Baroud that it is Palestinian voices that should dominate, it is they who are enduring occupation and exile. However, because of the claimed relationship with all Jews globally on which Israel insists, we must both: speak in our own right about our rejection of that assertion; and amplify the voices of the marginalised Israeli Jews who reject Apartheid and occupation.
LL
This article was originally published by Scoop Independent News on Mon 24 Jul 2023. Read the original here.
Meaning Of Solidarity In The Time Of A New Palestine
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Wikipedia says:
“Palestinian people, …, are an ethnonational group descending from peoples who have inhabited the region of Palestine over the millennia”. So that would also include all the Jewish inhabitants too I think.
Until the so-called Palestinian grouping acknowledge the right of Israel to exist how are we ever to proceed towards peace?
Can we be asked to show solidarity with those who want to kill us? Please!
All valid points from Ramzy.
But Jewish groups campaigning for Palestinian rights, as pointed out in the introduction, have additional responsibilities to weaken, or reverse, the active and effective support for Israel which holds sway over so many in our own communities. It is wonderful when we can present Palestinian voices to other Jews who do not agree with our positions, but answering smear campaigns, legal attacks, suspensions and expulsions (I’m thinking of JVL on those last points) may need to be part of fighting for the spaces for those Palestinian voices to be heard.
Antisemitism was a key weapon to prevent Jeremy Corbyn, a strong supporter of Palestinian rights, from continuing as Labour leader or becoming PM, which suggests it cannot be ignored at a political level.
Finally, when somebody accuses us personally or collectively of antisemitism, it is hurtful and defamatory and we have the right to answer that and not leave it on the record. Careers have been ended with these smears.
All of that is not to disagree with Ramzy’s messages.
“As a Jewish organisation we have a responsibility to do the heavy lifting to address the weaponisation of antisemitism which the rest of the movement are inhibited from so doing.”
It seems that JVL, in common with proponents of the smear and intimidation campaign, is entirely comfortable, or resigned, to a situation in which non-Jews are intimidated into silence on this issue. This is precisely the problem with JVL. They perpetuate a form of Jewish exceptionalism, and thereby actually reinforce one of the key tenets of the smear and intimidation campaign.
Everyone with an interest in doing so should call out the smear and intimidation campaign. You don’t have to be Jewish to do so and no one has any more right to do so than anyone else on account of their heritage. It is enough to have a commitment to the truth, and everyone’s arguments should simply be assessed on their own merit.
The corollary of this is that no one who does do so is any more immune to being accused of being an antisemite than anyone else. The idea that being Jewish provides people with any protection at all from these cynical smears has been shown to be demonstrably untrue. And yet JVL clings to this narrative of exercising their unique privilege and power to speak up on this issue, in spite of all of the evidence to the contrary.
None of which is intended to detract from the very significant achievement of members of JVL – especially Naomi and Jenny – in engaging with the media during the height of the smear and intimidation campaign. It’s possible that they were able to leverage their Jewish status to gain interviews that wouldn’t have been available to people who don’t have or claim that status. I don’t deny that possibility. But it’s completely futile unless they’re willing to say “Anyone and everyone has the right to call out this cynical nonsense” – or words to that effect.
Adrian Stern: “Can we be asked to show solidarity with those who want to kill us? Please!” No, not with those who, if your claim is correct, ‘want to kill you’. However, if ‘they’ do want to kill you, that has to be set against the means with which ‘they’ are able to carry this out compared with the means possessed by the IDF, Israeli police and illegal settlers who successfully and regularly actually carry out the killing of Palestinians on a massive scale, with little or no reaction from the rest of the world. ‘You’ are not the prime victims here.
I’m afraid Adam Waterhouse has got hold of entirely the wrong end of the stick!
It’s not that JVL and left wing Jews claim any sort of sole right to respond to smears and intimidation, it’s that we’re all too aware how much more difficult it is for non-Jews. Being accused of antisemitism is frankly ludicrous where we’re concerned, but potentially catastrophic for non-Jews. We understand that it’s impossible to prove you’re not antisemitic and that not many people would be prepared to try. That’s precisely why Corbyn caved in as he did.
This means we have to accept that we need to take a lead when these spurious allegations are made, not that we wouldn’t like everyone to support us. It’s nothing to do with Jewish exceptionalism – which we reject – and is certainly not comfortable!
Adam said:
The idea that being Jewish provides people with any protection at all from these cynical smears has been shown to be demonstrably untrue.
I’m sure JVLs committee members – most of whom have either been expelled or suspended from the Labour Party – would entirely agree with you Adam.
And of course it isn’t a matter of just being Jewish, but of being a left-wing Jew, who invariably support the Palestinians and human rights etc, etc, etc.
And Empaths are incapable of exceptionalism, be it Jewish or any other kind. I think you got hold of the wrong end of the stick Adam.
PS And bear in mind that the vast majority (99%?) of the articles JVL posts are reposted articles, authored by hundreds of different people, many of whom are Jewish. And many of whom are not!
Call them out for what they are
The Jewish State is the biggest threat to the Jewish Community