https://tonygreenstein.substack.com/p/why-the-issues-around-what-david The Genocide in Gaza is Now Being Directed by Neo-Nazis such as Ben-Gvir & Smotrich – that is why the Palestine Solidarity Movement Must Retain Its Anti-Racist Credentials tony greenstein Apr 11, 2025 Share Share tony greenstein The reaction to my blog David Miller has gone from Asset to Liability and its republication by Jewish Voices for Labour have largely been positive. Most people understand why it is that I have raised the issue. There have though been a few people and groups who have been critical, for different reasons. It is to them that I am addressing this article. My main critic is Ian Donovan, whose Draft Theses on the Jews and Modern Imperialism, argues that United States support for Zionism and Israel is a consequence of a ‘pan-national (Jewish) bourgeoisie.’ Jews in the Palestine solidarity/anti-Zionist movement must keep their views to themselves - in singling out Jews this is another example of the anti-Semitic defence of David Miller To anyone familiar with the international Jewish conspiracy theories, this sounds remarkably familiar. What Ian is essentially arguing is that there is an international Jewish bourgeoisie, a subset of the ruling class, who are responsible for Western imperialism supporting Zionism. In my view this is simply untrue, ahistorical, unsupported by the facts and to be blunt, bonkers. When the SWP supported Gilad Atzmon and denied he was anti-Semitic! Ian is someone who finds it difficult to call out anti-Semitism. Thus he supported Gilad Atzmon through thick and thin despite his anti-Semitism being obvious to just about everyone on the left. Even the SWP, after having initially supported him, realised that they were backing a loser. For anyone with any doubts on the matter I refer them to my blog A Guide to the Sayings of Gilad Atzmon. For Atzmon, like David Miller, there are no Jewish anti-Zionists. They are simply a fifth column who will convert (to Zionism) in the next anti-Semitic wave… who makes Zionism into an eternal struggle for ‘Jewish salvation. In his essay Truth, History, and Integrity Atzmon wrote: If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein - free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?’ ‘If the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? ‘We should ask for some conclusive historical evidence and arguments rather than follow a religious narrative...’ ‘Why were the Jews hated? Why did European people stand up against their next-door neighbours? Why are the Jews hated in the Middle East.’ To Donovan none of this is anti-Semitic. But I do not address this to Ian Donovan but to those who might be taken in by these arguments. According to Donovan this tweet is not anti-Semitic! A more substantive argument is that at a time of Genocide in Gaza why am I bothering with anti-Semitism, which is a marginal form of prejudice. This is a strong, indeed the strongest, of all the arguments and merits a response.. It is simply this. Anti-Semitism does not hurt Jews today, certainly not in the West. Of all minority groups Jews are the ones who are protected by a state that is otherwise racist. My concern over anti-Semitism doesn’t relate to Jews but to Palestinians. It is the Palestinians who are most affected by anti-Semitism. Ctd.... |
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