One can no more separate Zionism from Judaism than separate London from Great Britain, says Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. So Judaism is like other religions incapable of committing crimes in the name of faith and God. But what is the way through for Jews?
To escape accusations of anti-Semitism, Labour supporters of Palestinians should remember not to put Zionism and Nazism in the same sentence, avoid sloganizing about Zionism, and resist conspiracy theories of Zionist control
Jewish fears on British campuses stemming from activism against Israel represent an uncomfortable reckoning for young diaspora Jews who are unable to see or accept what has happened to Jews, Judaism and Jewish identity over the last 100 years under the influence of Zionist colonialism.
After Robert Cohen put up Facebook posts critical of Israel, including a letter to Anne Frank, he was besieged by angry comments. Like: “Most groups have an extremist self loathing fringe…” He responded with poetry, “Other ways of being Jewish are available.”
Marc Ellis says, “I am a political moderate with radical questions.” A supporter of “two real states” in Israel and Palestine, he tells Robert Cohen, “Israel has foreclosed this possibility.”
Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, compares Palestinian knife attacks to the Islamic jihadists who killed fusilier Lee Rigby on the London streets in 2013, nearly beheading him. A morally bankrupt analogy.
In Jeff Halper’s view, the elephant in the room of Israel’s immunity from criticism is the military-security connection. There’s no Jewish lobby in India or China, nor is Christian fundamentalist Zionism a political force in Thailand or Colombia. And what explains Saudi Arabia’s willingness to do business with Israel despite its long-standing criticism of the Jewish State?
BBC translated Gaza children speaking of “Yahud,” which literally means Jew, as Israeli. Those who criticize the decision are trying to have their Zionist cake and eat it, Robert Cohen argues.
Letter to the leading British Jewish organization protesting its denuncation of BDS: “Our relationship to the Palestinian people is the greatest issue the Jewish people and Judaism itself faces in this century. And we are currently making a spectacular mess of it. Your document is just one more example of that.”
Robert Cohen writes: In Britain, if you are a pro-Israel lobby group like We Believe in Israel, or BICOM or the Zionist Federation you have a tricky time ahead. If you are leading our religious or communal bodies from the United Synagogue to Liberal Judaism and of course the Board of Deputies, then you are now in a very serious fix. Here’s why. Bibi is back and this time he’s telling the truth. Expect to see turmoil in the ranks of the Jewish establishment, some soul searching among the rank and file and a clear fracturing of publicly voiced Jewish opinions on Israel. And about time too.