It seems like every time you turn around, another British politician is cursing Jews. I’m sorry, I mean, Israelis.
British authorities have detained a Foreign Office diplomat who allegedly uttered anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli profanities last month in anger over the IDF’s operation in the Gaza Strip.
The UK’s Daily Mail reported Monday that Rowan Laxton, a Middle East expert and head of the South Asia Group, was performing a routine workout on an exercise bike at his gym on January 27 when a report about the fighting in Gaza appeared on television.
Other gym users reported that Laxton then shouted, “F*cking Israelis, f*cking Jews”, and said that all Israeli soldiers “should be wiped off the map.” The Daily Mail reported that the tirade continued even after other gym users approached him.
You see the difference, right? It’s not anti-Semitism. It’s anti-Zionism. It’s not anti-Semitism. It’s criticism of Israel. After all, calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map” is simply criticism of Israel’s policies against the Palestinians. And besides, he didn’t want all Israelis to be “wiped off the map”. Just the soldiers, you see. The ones trying to stop Hamas from sending kassams and mortars and grad rockets into the Israeli civilian population. How dare those “fucking Jews” want to defend themselves from Palestinians?
By the way, the Daily Mail story has the real punchline here:
The case could not have come at a worse time for the Foreign Office. Next week, Britain is hosting an international summit on combating anti-Semitism, with politicians from 35 countries.
But wait. There’s more.
He is responsible for all the UK’s diplomacy in that area and for briefing Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is Jewish.
Mr Laxton has worked extensively in the Middle East – he married a Muslim woman in 2000 – and has been deputy ambassador to Afghanistan.
And we wonder why the Brits are so anti-Israel.
Britain is hosting an international conference on anti-Semitism? I assume the conference will be promoting it.
That’s pretty awful alright, but you know, I’m willing to bet it’s about a hundred times worse in France and maybe Spain and Russia.
Meryl, do you ever try to monitor the non-English speaking media?
in all fairness, I think saying “the Brits are so anti-Israel.” is over stating the case.
there is a high degree of anti-Israeli sentiment in certain areas:
the national media,
the Oxbridge classes,
some political activists
and of course, the Foreign Office
but that does not necessarily seep through to the wider populous
Israel is an easy target for the intellectually idle and guilt ridden English middle classes, and a bit of a surrogate for vulgar anti-Americanism, also it makes “understanding” the complexities of the Middle East unnecessary, rather they find it easier to blame Israel for all of the problems over there.
Really?
Poll: 50% in U.K. think Jews more loyal to Israel than home nation
I’m thinking not so much of a generalization there.
Well, I certainly don’t consider that article to be good news overall, but it does say that more Brits oppose anti-Israel boycotts than support them, and that opinions of Israel had increased since 2005 in four of the six countries surveyed. It also doesn’t say that being more loyal to Israel than Britain is a BAD thing. In all candor, I’m not sure it IS a bad thing.
As a Christian and a veteran, I consider my loyalty to God and the church more important than my loyalty to my country. If protestants had some kind of nation-state somewhere, I would refuse to fight against that state. If the US were ever to attack the Vatican (very unlikely, of course), I would support the idea of Catholics refusing to fight.
When I was a tyke living on an Army base, our next door neighbors were a Jewish family. When the Yom Kippur war started, the father went AWOL and flew to Israel to join the army there. When he returned, he was brought up on charges for leaving, but the jury unanimously found him innocent. My father was his defense counsel.
Some might call this attitude “divisive†or “balkanizingâ€, but I don’t see it that way.
Meryl,
fair point about the survey, but it is extending it too far to then say “the Brits are so anti-Israel”, covering the whole of the population, in one sweeping generalisation
I am sure that searching around I could find a few strange surveys on American attitudes, but I wouldn’t be so bold as to suggest that ALL Americans hold such views
I am not suggesting there isn’t a problem, rather it is more localised than such a survey might point to, amongst a section of the elites and dominated by the London media.
Modernity, when 50% of your countrymen think that British Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.K., I think it’s not a sweeping generalization anymore. You’d have a point if it was, say, 25%. Or if Muslims weren’t marching in London chanting “Jews to the gas”, while British police back and back and back away. Or if British “activists” didn’t keep scheduling marches in front of Jewish Community Centers instead of, say, the Israeli embassy.
Anti-Semitism is a huge problem in the U.K., and it’s getting worse.
ahh Meryl, they are NOT my countrymen :)
but if I find a survey which suggests that say, 51% of American have a good or mild view of neo-Nazis, would that mean that ALL Americans are pro-Nazi?
of course, not.
taking that approach, I am not suggesting there is not a problem in Britain, but that it is possible to read TOO much into a survey, which is by its nature a SAMPLING of people.
further, too many people in Europe generalise about North Americans as Gun Nuts and bigots, I disagree with that too, but I’ll bet a few surveys might, just might, point in that direction?
but it would be wrong to apply that limited view of North Americans to ALL of them
the same holds true of Brits :)
again, I am NOT saying that anti-Jewish racism in the UK is not a problem, but exaggerating it doesn’t help
PS: The “Jews to the Gas” was in Holland, not Britain, another country entirely.
I had a quick look at the survey, and surprisingly the Brits didn’t come out too bad, it states:
“The United Kingdom was the only country in which there was a
marked decline in the percentage of respondents who believe that at
least three of the four anti-Semitic stereotypes are “probably true.†”
counterpoise that with above JP quote:
“Asked to respond to the statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than their own country,” the survey found that 50 percent of U.K. respondents replied “probably true,” up from 39 percent two years ago.”
I suspect that is the influence of the media which is fairly anti-Israel.
So I’d suggest that much of the anti-Jewish racism in Britain is driven (or helped along) by the coverage of the Middle East (there’s a LOT) and the British elite’s antagonism towards Israel.
You know, American coverage in Israel is fairly slanted as well, and yet, anti-Semitism in the U.S. is nowhere near the levels it is in Europe. Then again, Europe is where the Holocaust was spawned and executed, and there has never been a pogrom on American soil.
I don’t think I’m exaggerating British anti-Semitism. It’s a good thing that there’s been a decline. But four out of ten Brits still think that British Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.K. That’s not much better than five out of ten.
Meryl,
Sorry, but you are conflating EUROPE with Britain, and seemingly assuming that attitudes are the same, which is a bit like comparing US and Mexican attitudes.
They are not the same. Different societies. Different media and political structures.
And according to the SURVEY, 60% think that is not the case, so it depends on how you read the survey and what emphasis is put on what.
I won’t deny that anti-Israel attitudes are a problem, but the vast majority of people don’t seem to subscribe to the most negative stereo types of Jews, in much the same way the political and social culture in DC is very different from Ohio or Texas, even though they are in the same country.
So taking a snapshot of DC and saying that IS American attitudes would be misleading. Similarly, European attitudes are not British ones.
The influence of the media and London-centric culture tends to dominate and paint a slanted picture, in my view.
I think there is a problem but it is more localised than the survey presents.
Actually, you’re ignoring the part of my comment where I mentioned that having four out of ten Brits think that Jews are more loyal to Israel than five out of ten is not that much of an improvement.
That is not a localized problem. That is a very big problem with anti-Semitism throughout Britain. Or are you saying that the survey was flawed? That’s a different story entirely, and will require cites.
Meryl,
no I didn’t miss it, I was turning it around.
again, in my view, too much hyperbole “That is a very big problem with anti-Semitism throughout Britain. “
that is not how it comes out when you RESIDE there, throughout Britain is like saying lynching in the American South indicate that there was a problem throughout the US of A?
I would agree there IS a problem with anti-Israel sentiment, generated in part by the media and political groupings
there IS a problem with recent racially motivated attacks, but to THEN go on and say that ALL Brits (because that’s what is implied by your comments) have a serious problem with Jews is misleading, IMO.
it might get to that, not sure, but we are NOT there yet
don’t see you my point?
Nope. Because your saying that the problem is localized doesn’t make it so. Once again: Four out of ten. In every classroom of 20 children, that means eight of them are being brought up to believe that Jews are disloyal to Britain. For every ten people you meet on the street, four of them think Jews are more loyal to Israel than to Britain.
Four out of ten. That’s not localized. That’s a major problem throughout the population. Saying it isn’t doesn’t make it so.
Do you get my point yet?
The lynchings in the American south weren’t taking place in the north. This poll was ALL of the U.K. Your example is flawed. However, there was a problem in all of the U.S., for quite some time. It’s only recently that it’s been pounded into the minority view.
The reverse appears to be happening across the pond.