Results of a 10-month inquiry into anti-Semitism in Britain
will be delivered by three members of Parliament to Downing Street on Thursday.
And according to the Guardian, the report is likely to criticize calls to
boycott academics working in Israel and blast "left-wing activists as well
as Muslim extremists for using criticism of Israel as 'a pretext' for spreading
hatred against British Jews."
What does this mean? Israel must be handed immunity from
censure in case British Jews suffer from the fallout? And if so, why isn't the
same rule applied to Muslim countries? Could we say that critiques of Iran,
Syria or Palestine should be forbidden because they may trigger Islam-phobia in
European capitals?
Do the authors and bearers of the report, Denis MacShane,
Iain Duncan-Smith and Chris Huhne, seriously believe those calling for an
academic boycott are raging anti-Semites?
Couldn't a more likely explanation dwell in the fact that
Israel has just wantonly smashed huge swathes of Lebanon into smithereens,
dropped thousands of cluster bombs into heavily populated areas, is currently
occupying southern Lebanon and operating an air/sea blockade?
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN have
accused Israel of violating humanitarian law. Does this imply that those bodies
are anti-Semitic too?
Israel is certainly concerned. Its chief legal advisor has
warned officials not to use inflammatory language related to the conflict
because such statements could be used to indict them abroad as "war
criminals."
Russia has just pulled the plug on its participation in a
technology fair, scheduled to be held in a Tel Aviv hotel, out of solidarity
with Lebanon. No doubt the trio of British MPs would consider this move to be
"anti-Semitic."
Anti-Semitism, like any form of bigotry or racism, is
abhorrent. But if Jews, whether in Britain or elsewhere, are suffering from a
backlash related to the policies of the Jewish state, then instead of
condemning left-wing activists or Muslims wouldn't it have been more effective
for the parliamentarians to urge Israel to change its policies?
In recent weeks Israel has been responsible for the deaths
of over 1,000 Lebanese civilians and hundreds of Palestinians. Are we supposed
to stay silent just in case some nut scrawls anti-Semitic graffiti on a London
wall?
Rather than stick faux anti-Semitic labels on individuals,
who speak out against Israeli crimes, MacShane, Duncan-Smith and Huhne would be
better employed persuading Israel to behave as though it is a member of the
international community and, thus, subject to its laws and conventions.
Unfortunately, this isn't going to happen. Denis MacShane, a
former minister of state for Europe, is an avid backer of the Bush/Blair
foreign policy and an outspoken supporter of the Jewish state.
He once complained: "What is it in the DNA of the
British establishment that blames the Jews, first, last and always?" Ah!
So it seems not only are activists and Muslims "anti-Semitic" so,
apparently, is the British upper crust.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Iain Duncan-Smith,
who says Israel is the most vulnerable nation on the planet, recently wrote a
screed complaining there has been little backing among the British public for
Israel's stand against the "Hezbollah terrorists."
He writes: "I have always supported Israel because I
admire its democracy and the constitutional freedoms enjoyed by its
citizens."
Duncan-Smith further believes that "all the world's
democracies should have a natural solidarity with Israel," but laments
"there has been little sign of such solidarity in recent days or in recent
years." Must we, therefore, believe that all the world's democracies are
essentially anti-Semitic?
Who is he kidding? How can Israel be the most vulnerable
nation on the planet when it has a citizen army, "made in the USA"
state-of-the-art weapons and planes and is awash in nuclear armaments? Not only
that, it is nurtured and protected by the superpower.
I'd love to know Duncan-Smith's definition of
"vulnerable" and wonder how Lebanon fits into the great scheme of
vulnerabilities when it was occupied continuously by Israel for 18 years and
doesn't have a functioning army. Thank goodness he never made prime minister
else we'd be saying, "Come back Blair, all is forgiven."
On the other hand, Liberal-Democrat Chris Huhne, who
supports a Palestinian state and was always against the war with Iraq, lends a
certain amount of leftist credibility to the report's findings, and that's
probably why he was brought on board.
We won't know the report's exact findings until later this
week but there's one thing for sure. Among the leftist activists complained
about there won't be any Israelis, whereas, in fact, Israelis are some of the
most vehement critics of Israel.
Unlike Duncan-Smith who apparently admires Israel's
democratic credentials, Israeli journalist Amira Hass, whose mother was a
survivor of Bergen-Belsen, says Israel is an apartheid state with privileges
reserved mostly for Jews.
"The Palestinians, as a people, are divided into
subgroups, something which is reminiscent of South Africa under apartheid
rule," she says. In this case, is Amira Hass guilty of making British Jews
the target of anti-Semites too?
What about Ha'aretz reporter and columnist Gideon Levy, an
Israeli whose heartfelt articles are headed with such titles as the "IDF's
war on children" and "The crime of looking a bit too Arab"? Does
he share responsibility for the desecration of Jewish tombstones abroad?
When Levy blames Israel for demonizing and dehumanizing the
Palestinians, MacShane, Duncan-Smith and Huhne should listen and ask themselves
who is truly at the receiving end of virulent racism.
The Palestinians forced to subsist within open prisons faced
with daily humiliation at the hands of foreign soldiers barely out of their
teens? Or should we reserve our tears for poor Israeli academics, shunned by
their British peers? Boo Hoo!
Messrs. MacShane, Duncan-Smith and Huhne should get their
priorities right and if the British prime minister had any sense he would throw
their report in the round file where it belongs. Instead he will probably use
it as yet more ammunition for his deluded "evil ideology" drive.
Linda
S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes
feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.