Saturday 31 March 2018

Antisemitism, a cancer that may yet destroy the Labour Party

'by their fruits ye shall know them.' If you read this blog you will know that I am motivated by this Biblical instruction, as it encapsulates the essence of the empirical methodology I operate by. The only knowledge that qualifies as knowledge is what we receive from experience, all other information is speculation. In other words, what Christ was telling His disciples was to ignore what people were saying and focus on what they do, as their behaviour will reveal their true motivations. You may find this rather hypocritical from someone who eschews religion but it is a fool who rejects wisdom, even from those he/she disagrees with. I write this because I have been following what the Scots call a 'stramash' within the British Labour Party over the issue of antisemitism. From what I have observed of this stramash I am afraid that I have to conclude that the Labour Party does indeed harbour an institutionalised antisemitism and that Jeremy Corbyn himself is less than sympathetic to the Jewish people. I conclude this because despite many fine words about the evils of antisemitism and racism, the Party and its esteemed leader have yet to actually do anything about it. Indeed the only thing that appears to have aroused their conscience was a demonstration by Jewish groups outside the pigsty against Labour and its leader's apparent complacency and toleration of the very thing they insist they will not tolerate. To be fair, some Labour MPs were very concerned about this poison within their Party and joined the demonstration, but, rather than be applauded by their comrades for their bravery and principled stand, they have been vehemently attacked and threatened with deselection. This is because criticism of the Great Leader is the vilest form of treachery to these moral giants. If Corbyn refuses to tackle antisemitism within the Party, then it will have to be tolerated because criticism of the Great Leader is a far greater threat to society than hatred and persecution of Jews. The Labour Party proclaims a policy of zero-tolerance, but we now know that this zero-tolerance is focused on criticism of Corbyn and his policies. In addition, even if the proclamation of zero-tolerance is genuinely towards racism and antisemitism then that tells me that until now it has not been as such a declaration should be unnecessary and self-evident.

Zionism is a political concept that has been sullied by its incorporation into a religious idea, thus blurring the original nature of the Zionist cause. In far too many contexts, Zionism has become a term of abuse that is utilised as an excuse to vilify the Jewish people as a whole, and unfortunately, far too often the actions of the Israeli state give succour to such elements, actions that in my opinion betray the spirit of the Zionist ideal. As a young man I read Der Judenstaat by Theodor Herzl and concluded that he was correct to anticipate that without a Jewish national home the Jewish people faced the prospect of total annihilation at the hands of those powers who detested Jews and made even more likely by the indifference of the rest of humanity, who, history shows, will never raise a whisper of protest to the fate of the Jewish people. This is particularly true of the two great religions. I still believe that this has been borne out by historical events. This does not excuse the behaviour of some Jewish groups who call themselves Zionists and who appear to seek the annihilation of the Palestinian people and who display an indifference to their situation. Such a position is inexcusable. I feel that proper Zionists should be the first to recognise that the salvation of the Palestinian people lies in having a Palestinian state, a homeland, and that they should be bending all their efforts, political, diplomatic, and international, to achieve this in concert with the Palestinian authorities. 

In our modern world anti-Zionism has become synonymous with antisemitism which is a form of racism as Jews are a racial group, a racial group that happen to have a religion peculiar to their race. Zionism on the other hand is, as I said earlier, a political concept. Thus, not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews. That distinction unfortunately escapes our politically charged anti-Zionist warriors who happily layer the blame that they apply to Zionist motives and actions on all Jewish people, regardless of whether or not they agree with and support, the actions and motives of the Israeli government. This is the dilemma facing the Labour Party who have neither the capacity nor the intellect to distinguish between the two. This is the task facing the Labour leadership, to make a clear distinction between opposition to Israeli governmental policy and the larger Jewish community. Of course this dilemma is not confined to the Labour Party, it exists at all levels of all societies, but the Labour Party is in a unique position at this point of time to give a lead to one of the greatest cancers in the body politic throughout the world. I have neither the faith nor the confidence that Labour has either the will of the intellect to tackle this problem. I sincerely hope I am wrong. You have been warned

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat

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