writes in Electronic Intifida 30 September 2022
The religious organization Quakers in Britain is standing by its cancellation of a booking for an event on Palestine at one of its meeting houses in Scotland earlier this week.
The decision came after a smear campaign against the main speaker David Miller, falsely accusing him of anti-Jewish bigotry.
This capitulation is a slap in the face to Palestinians and to the long tradition of Quaker solidarity and support for Palestinian rights. It is also being criticized by another major Quaker group.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, a right-wing Israel lobby group whose head of “political investigations” took credit for the political destruction of Jeremy Corbyn – boasting that the former Labour Party leader had been “slaughtered” – applauded the blatant act of censorship against Miller.
But the cave-in by Quakers in Britain – also known as Britain Yearly Meeting – has not been received well by one of the world’s best known Quaker action organizations, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
AFSC is widely known among Palestinians for its long commitment to their struggle for justice, dating back to the immediate aftermath of the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
“With full respect to our colleagues and friends at Britain Yearly Meeting, our experience and work lead us to different conclusions regarding peacebuilding and activism for Palestinian rights,” AFSC said in response to The Electronic Intifada’s request for comment about what occurred in Edinburgh.
“As noted in our statement opposing anti-Semitism, over the last several years we have seen a rise in anti-Semitism,” the group said.
“Jewish people are faced with persistent bigotry, hate, racism and violence. We condemn and work to end anti-Semitism in all its forms.”
AFSC added: “We have also witnessed a dangerous trend where allegations of anti-Semitism are used to silence those advocating for Palestinian rights.”
The organization highlighted how the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, promoted by Israel and its lobby, seeks to redefine “criticism of Israel and Zionism as anti-Semitism.”
“A concerted and well-funded effort uses lawfare, anti-Semitism accusations, accusations of terrorism support, legislation, doxing and online smear campaigns to stop advocacy for Palestinian rights,” AFSC added.
That is precisely what has happened to David Miller.