As the British general elections, scheduled for the 12 of December of this year are coming soon, the game is increasingly played in dirtier ways and being manipulated by various sides for different goals. I'm copying an article by a famous and courageous Israeli columnist and political annalist, Gideon Levy, initially published by Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, the article comes at a crucial time in the game of fake news and manipulating the voters, it's self explanatory.
Corbyn is not an anti-Semite. His real sin is to fight against injustice in the world, including the version Israel perpetrates. The Jewish establishment in Britain and the Israeli propaganda machine have taken out a contract on the leader of the British Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, the contract was taken out a long time ago, and it was clear that the closer Corbyn came to being elected prime minister, the harsher the conflict would get.
On Tuesday it reached its climax, in an article by the chief rabbi of Britain, Ephraim Mirvis in the Times, Mirvis decided that the anxiety of British Jews over Corbyn is justified and he is not fit to be prime minister. He called on Jews not to vote for Labor in the coming election on Dec. 12.
Born in South Africa and a graduate of Har Etzion Yeshiva in the settlement of Alon Shvut, Mirvis is the voice of British Jewry. In Capetown, Johannesburg and Har Etzion, he should have learned what apartheid was and why one should fight it, his parents did so, but one doubts that he learned the moral lesson from the regions of disenfranchisement in which he lived in South Africa and the West Bank.
As opposed to the horrid Corbyn, Mirvis sees nothing wrong with the continued occupation; he does not identify with the struggle for Palestinian freedom, and he doesn't sense the similarity between the South Africa of his childhood, Har Etzion of his youth and Israel of 2019. That is the real reason that he rejects Corbyn. The Jews of Britain also want a prime minister who supports Israel, that is who support the occupation. A prime minister who is critical of Israel is to them an exemplar of the new anti-Semitism.
Corbyn is not an anti-semite, he never was. Today any criticism of Israel politics and tactics and brutality is anti-semitism. The Hungarian Victor Orban, the Austrian freedom party and the extreme right in Europe are not the danger to Jews, Corbyn is the enemy. The new and efficient strategy of Israel and the Zionist establishment, brands every seeker of justice as an anti-Semite, and any criticism of Israel as hatred of Jews. Corbyn is a victim of this strategy, which threatens to paralyze and silence Europe with regard to Israel.
British Jewry might not be faking its anxiety, but it is certainly magnifying the danger. There is anti-semitism, though less than what is presented, about half of British Jews are considering fleeing if Corbyn is elected. Let them flee. Are the Jews of Britain conditionally British? to whom is their loyalty. The future of all British Jews is much more secure than the future of any and all Palestinian living under the occupation, and even more secure than that of any Arab living in Israel. Jews are persecuted and are victims of discrimination and racism less so than the Palestinian in Israel. Moreover Islamophobia in Europe is more common than anti-Semitism, but people talk about it less.
Corbyn is indeed a very harsh critic of the occupation, supports the boycott and compares the closure of Gaza with the siege of Stalingrad and Leningrad. These are anti-Israeli positions, but not necessarily anti-Semitic, the Jews of Britain and the entire world are blurring these differences intentionally. One can and should be a harsh critic of Israel without being anti-Semitic.
If the Jews of Britain and their chief rabbi were more honest and courageous, they would ask themselves: Isn't Israel's brutal occupation policy the strongest motive for anti-Semitism today?? There is anti-Semitism, it must be fought, but it must also be recognized that Israel supplies it an abundance of excuses and motives.
The Jews and Israel's true friends should hope that Corbyn is elected. He is a statesman who can change international discourse about the occupation and the struggle against it, he is a ray of hope for a different world and a different Israel, and what more could we want.
My usual thanks to all for following the blog.
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