Zionism and anti semitism
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- ‘Zionism’ as a concept remains a valid topic for academic and political debate, both within and outside Israel. The word ‘Zionist’ (or worse, ‘Zio’) as a term of abuse, however, has no place in a civilised society. It has been tarnished by its repeated use in antisemitic and aggressive contexts.
- It is concerning that the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) is not able to provide reliable baseline figures on the prevalence of self-reported experiences of antisemitic crime. The majority of British Jewish people live in Greater London, so a national sample would have to be prohibitively large in order to obtain reliable data on antisemitism. CST figures, while valuable, may reflect trends in reporting as well as overall prevalence. The Home Office and the Office for National Statistics should commission enhanced samples in Greater London and other areas with large Jewish populations, to ensure that the CSEW can collect reliable data on the prevalence of antisemitism.
Antisemites frequently use the word ‘Zionist’ when they are in fact referring to Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere. Those claiming to be “anti-Zionist, not antisemitic” should do so in the knowledge that 59% of British Jewish people consider themselves to be Zionists.
If these individuals genuinely mean only to criticise the policies of the Government of Israel, and have no intention to offend British Jewish people, they should criticise “the Israeli Government”, and not “Zionists”. For the purposes of criminal or disciplinary investigations, use of the words ‘Zionist’ or ‘Zio’ in an accusatory or abusive context should be considered inflammatory and potentially antisemitic. This should be communicated by the Government and political parties to those responsible for determining whether or not an incident should be regarded as antisemitic.
Response
The Crown Prosecution Service will consider the words ‘Zionist’ or ‘Zio’ for inclusion as part of its current guidance for prosecutors. The guidance covers lessons from practice and reflects on the changing nature of language and terminology in relation to anti-Semitism. As with all terminology, consideration would be given to all the facts and the specific circumstances of its use.
The rise of anti-Semitism 6. Police-recorded antisemitic crime is almost non-existent in some parts of England, as illustrated by the data provided as an Annex to this report. We question why some police forces, operating in counties in which thousands of Jewish people live, have recorded few or no antisemitic crimes. The NPCC should investigate the causes of this apparent underreporting and provide extra support, where needed, to police forces with less experience of investigating antisemitic incidents.
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I suppose at issue is this;
Antisemites frequently use the word ‘Zionist’ when they are in fact referring to Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere. Those claiming to be “anti-Zionist, not antisemitic” should do so in the knowledge that 59% of British Jewish people consider themselves to be Zionists.
You could have also said;
Anti Germans frequently use the word ‘Nazi’s’
….in an accusatory or abusive context….
when they are in fact referring to German’s whether in Germany or elsewhere. Those claiming to be “anti- Nazi” , not Anti German should do so in the knowledge that 59% of Germans consider themselves to be Nazi’s.
and that ;
they should have criticized “the German government”, and not “Nazi’s”
if that sounds outrageous, then;
“….for hosting an anti-racism conference in 2010 at which a speaker made a comparison between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and the Nazis’ treatment of Jews. That violated another of the IHRA examples.
But again, what none of these anti-semitism warriors has wanted to highlight is that the speaker given a platform at the conference was the late Hajo Meyer, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who dedicated his later years to supporting Palestinian rights. Who, if not Meyer, deserved the right to make such a comparison? And to imply that he was an anti-semite because he prioritised Palestinian rights over the preservation of Israel’s privileges for Jews is truly contemptible…….”
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2018-08-08/labour-crisis-israel-anti-semitism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Cook
Donning a ‘left-wing’ costume.
They have a ‘prejudicial’ principles against discrimination against ethnic and ‘racial’ groups.
For them it axiomatic to criticize Zionism.
The BBC and the ‘Guardians’ of the Deep State have an interest in undermining the Corbynistas.
As much as the threat to US lead foreign policy as any left orientated economic policy changes.
As with their selective and deceit by omission reporting of recent events in Brazil,
Venezuela and Syria.
Real Anti Semitism in the UK is of course a load of bullocks and you have to look very hard at the fringe far right to find it.
I worked in a factory near Harpurhey in the 1980’s and still do in fact.
That was North Manchester ‘heart of darkness’ when it came to racism and Bernard Manning country; an interesting character perhaps.
There was anti ‘Afro-Carribean’ and ‘anti Asian hard racism there then.
The sort of demographic of the employee catchment area.
All the way up to the top; never mind middle management.
Not that there was many that worked there.
The factory manager used the ‘N’ word, in its common meaning, at a works social at the table I was so happened to be sat at in front of about 20 people.
He came over to our table and was referring a young machine operator who rose up due to his talent and intelligence.
There was a non religious ‘jewish’ person who worked there as well and he had ‘jewish’ name, was known to be of ‘jewish’ ethnicity and although I hate to say it but ‘looked’ ‘jewish’.
Nobody ever gave him a hard time over it.
I have never had any personal first hand experience of anti-semitism.