This blog is not overly concerned with the goings-on in the rabid and vocal camp of British anti-Zionists. The camp is actually a motley arrangement of tents, each belonging to a different tribe, each tribe fighting all the others simultaneously for space (read access to mass media) and busily scent-marking its territory.
There is a lot of shades that allow a pedantic observer to establish the subtle differences between the gangs. One of these shades is the level (generally low) of objection to the simple, garden variety racism and anti-Semitism. We have already reported on a funny fight between the two of the species. It seems that another fight, involving two somewhat larger groups (three heads vs. a few hundred) came to a conclusion. David Hirsch of Engage is reporting on the interesting, albeit not surprising, result of this fight.
British Anti-Zionism fights for a world-view that singles out and demonizes Israel as though it was a unique evil in the world. It exists in a world where most anti-Zionism, from Stalinist, Jihadi, neo-Nazi and Arab nationalist traditions, is openly antisemitic. It is obvious that such consistent and widespread demonization has the potential to lead to the rise of open antisemitism. And now we see exactly that happening within the Palestine Solidarity Movement.
To make the long story short (do not forget to read the whole article in full, it is worth your time), the only three remaining anti-racist anti-Zionists of PSM decided to put up a fight against the wave of anti-Semitism that has this worthy movement in its thrall. And the result?
Greenstein and Rance have come under attack recently from the openly antisemitic Gilad Atzmon and they thought that they could fight back by getting the anti-racist Palestine Solidarity conference on their side. They were wrong. The PSC conference overwhelmingly backed the Atzmon line against the anti-Zionist Jews. Blackwell, it seems, is now isolated as one of the tiny number of anti-racist anti-Zionists left in the Palestine Solidarity movement. She is one of the very few to stand up for her Jewish comrades.
I don’t know what is worse - to be pissed upon by a raving gang of anti-Semites or being defended by Sue Blackwell. But it is for the above mentioned to decide.
But don’t you worry. These characters will not endanger their good standing with PSM for mere anti-Semitism. Roland Rance, for instance, has already offered his humble apologies to PSM for that embarrassing episode, so kissing and making up is under way. After all, let’s not forget who the three characters in question really are:
Tony Greenstein is an anti-Zionist who believes that Zionism is like Nazism, that Zionists helped the Nazis carry out the Holocaust, that Israel, uniquely, is an essentially and unchangeably racist state.
Sue Blackwell is an anti-Zionist who is best known for campaigning to exclude Israeli academics from university campuses, conferences and journals around the world. Blackwell believes that Israel is an “illegitimate” state.
Roland Rance is an anti-Zionist who campaigns for the “dismantlement of the Zionist structure of the state of Israel”.
If they are not an ideal fit for an anti-Semite, the difference is purely academic in our book. Their goals are, in essence, the same as these of the rest of PSM, so let’s not bother with nuances. What is really important to remember: many good people have already expressed a suspicion that when you scratch an anti-Zionist you usually find an anti-Semite underneath. In the case of British anti-Zionist gangs this is becoming rather a rule.
Feh.
Cross-posted on SimplyJews
