Although unable to find evidence of antisemitism, a Church of England tribunal banned Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, a noted critic of Christian Zionism, from clergy activities for 12 years.

Jewish organizations’ reflexive opposition to the Ben & Jerry’s decision not to sell in occupied territory, because it strengthens BDS and is somehow “antisemitic,” shows that being Jewish means being ‘anti-Palestinian’. These organizations have constructed a Jewish identity, theology and ethics around the denial of Palestinians to peacefully protest and call for global solidarity. Thankfully, there are pro-BDS alternatives in Jewish tradition.

What happens when B’Tselem, an Israeli NGO, has effectively described the State of Israel as a racist endeavor? Thanks to B’Tselem’s apartheid report, British Jewish groups that seek to display progressive or radical outlook appear tame, weak, their courage lacking.

The only variety of Zionism still on offer is the ethno-nationalist creed of Benjamin Netanyahu and the many politicians in Israel who sit to his right in the Knesset. And with annexation, we are about to begin the final phase of the Palestinian people’s long and tortured dispossession.

Netanyahu is sending Tzipi Hotovely to be ambassador to the UK even though she has attacked the leading body of British Jews, the Board of Deputies, for supporting a Palestinian state. “[A]n organization that supports the establishment of a Palestinian state is clearly working against Israeli interests. It is important to say explicitly: A Palestinian state is a danger to the State of Israel.”

Many British Jewish organizations have condemned racism at the heart of George Floyd’s murder. It’s impossible for even liberal Jewish supporters of Israel to recognise the structural and institutional racism they inhabit while they cling to the idea that only an exclusive Jewish sovereignty in Israel/Palestine can guarantee Jewish security.

Robert Cohen writes, “Looking the other way when a crime is committed is not a Jewish value I remember being taught in my Hebrew classes. The British Board of Deputies’ effort to build non-existent Jewish unity over Israel turns out to be little more than political expediency in Israel’s favour.”