This week’s postings@JfJfP.com

Defining antisemitism again features strongly in the postings this week, December 12th-18th, 2016. We – and others – have pointed out that Brian Klug’s definition is all we need – “Antisemitism is a form of hostility to Jews as Jews, where Jews are perceived as something other than what they are”. This is not enough for those who think hostility to Israel – as the collectivity of Jews – constitutes antisemitism. There is no likelihood that this difference will go away.

This week the issue is raised by the British Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May. It is likely that she is genuinely appalled by antisemitism though not, when she was Home Secretary or now as PM, by the far more common Islamophobia. The occasion for her remarks on protecting British Jews with all the forces of the state is her adoption of the definition of antisemitism from the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance).

Why? Why now? Does it provide another link in the net which catches ‘bad muslims’. Is it just a timely opportunity to show she’s up there with the western leaders? A collective letter to the Guardian, signed by many JfJfP signatories, states its opposition to the IHRA initiative:
PM backs new definition of antisemitism

The IHRA definition of antisemitism is unexceptionable. The problem comes with the examples including “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”. The assumption that Jews constitute a ‘nation’ which has a ‘right to self-determination’ is not accepted by many Diaspora Jews. It was rejected last week by Robert Cohen:
‘Self-determination’ is not a right

It is attacked wholesale by a body of British Jews, collected by Tony Greenstein and including many JfJfP signatories, in a letter to the Guardian. This is included in the multi-post above:
PM backs new definition of antisemitism

Americans seem to have accepted that their immunity to antisemitism is gone. The Forward’s JJ Goldberg ascribes exercise of this ugly beast to both left and right, the right from conventional feelings of Jew hatred, the left because its hostility to the Israeli state may begin with opposition to particular policies but can slide into the easy opposition to the existence of Israel as a “Jewish state”.  It’s part of the Trump effect. (Created at the same time as Israel, Pakistan is constitutionally the “Islamic Republic of Pakistan” – and suffers from the same problems of religious intolerance and fear of being annihilated):
In the US the antisemitic sewer covers are off

A truce between those who accept Klug’s definition and those who insist any definition of antisemitism must include the wrong attitude to Israel is not on the cards. A recent stoker of the conflict is American Kenneth L Marcus on his book Defining Anti-Semitism in which he avers “The BDS movement is not new; it only extends age-old anti-Jewish hatred in new settings”:
Rushing for ways to define criticism of Israel as antisemitic

Trump himself has announced he is stamping on all foregoing efforts to mediate a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, or, indeed, to engage in any intervention in the Middle East:
Trump’s non-intervention stance not as simple as he thinks

But, as Arab Digest points out, there are many parties with a stake in the MidEast, not least Trump’s enemy Iran and friend Putin and his Russian military.

Don’t judge by what he says but by what he does, and what he’s done is appoint a zealously pro-Israel ambassador – David Friedman – as the ambassador to Israel. Trump’s crushing of the past means not appointing someone who will not press for a 2-state solution but gallop ahead with the programme of the Israeli right wing. He thinks there should be no constraint on Israel in its keeping down of the Palestinians:
Raving rightist chosen as US ambassador to Israel

And [above] he has declared he will move the US embassy to (a lonely post in) Jerusalem despite its unique 1947 status as Corpus separatum:
Trump’s first step – move embassy to Jerusalem

The future administration is able to drive a juggernaut over years of American attempts at mediation because they all failed – stalled by Israel’s recalcitrance. No-one tried harder than President Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry. Hours and hours of talking, of visits, of plane journeys. Nothing. Some held to hopes that Obama would make an effective move before leaving office, but articles here say this will not happen:
Hopes lost that Obama will make a last act for Palestine

The Institute of Palestine Studies posts a long essay (something to read over the holiday season) contrasting Obama’s eloquent wishes for Palestine and the realpolitik of the US/Israel military marriage. Did he protest at the largest ever donation of military aid to Israel? The Israelis have happily learned that whatever they do, the US’s military aid will carry on regardless. The aid is unconditional:
Obama’s twisted legacy on Palestine

Bipartisanship on Israel/Palestine has been broken. This has most serious consequences. Democrats and Republicans (GOP – the Grand Old Party) no longer agree that the settlements are illegal and that Israel should draw its boundaries as where they were before the 6-day war. This conflict will create and invigorate an EU v USA & Israel conflict:
GOP no longer regards Israel as ‘occupier’

The GOP like Trump – a nominal Republican party member – realises it can quite safely ignore the Palestinians and the formal support for a 2-state solution. Go with the rich and strong – eliminate the poor and politically weak.

Sadly, according to Arab Digest (and confirmed by diligent searches on the English language Palestinian websites) Palestinian political bodies are staying silent on all this. According to Arab Digest ‘many Arabs refuse to interest themselves in Israeli/US politics, remaining in denial on the basis that “they are all the same”’.
Raving rightist chosen as US ambassador to Israel

That’s enough of that. There are alternatives being pursued by the Israeli Left and Palestinians, though with great difficulty. The Israeli state has discovered a new enemy – human rights activists – which reveals how like other MidEastern tyrannies they are (and have properly been condemned by Amnesty and the UN Human Rights Commission).

One of these punished activists is Issa Amro, founder of the non-violent Youth Against the Settlements:
Issa Amro charged with ‘hurting a soldier’s dignity’

and
Israeli persecution of human rights defenders

This latter casts Israel out of the club of ‘civilised nations’. Both the UN Human Rights Commission and Amnesty have spoken out against the Israeli arrests, on spurious charges, of those who defend human rights. Let’s hope others join Amnesty and the UN in deploring this persecution.

According to Ben Caspit of Al Monitor Netanyahu actually feels weak and limited by Israeli rules, especially on the appointment of ministers. What couldn’t he do if only he had what Netanyahu imagines to be the untrammelled powers of an American President!:
Bibi wants what Trump’s having

The Bedouin, although one of the indigenous people of Palestine and Israeli citizens are nonetheless herded into a couple of all-Bedouin townships. This is apartheid. The Israeli state is again trying to move all the Bedouin out of their village of Um al-Hiran because a) they want all Bedouin in the same poverty-stricken place and b) they want to build a nice Jewish town on the site. However this has been held up by vigorous protest from both inside Israel and outside, notably by the PSC:
Solidarity gets stay of execution on Bedouin village

Despite its marginalisation an Israeli left is still active and here leftist Israelis have visited Pres. Abbas to discuss the 2-state solution. This, sadly, has been condemned by the Palestine Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Once a political force to be reckoned with the PFLP seems to be unable to shift from its 1970s position:
Left-wing Israelis who want to keep 2-state solution alive

In fact, the entire Palestinian body of political leaderships seems mired in internecine conflict:
Palestinian president acts only on internal dissent