A Note on the Matter of Israel.

It’s long been a source of irritation to me that people so easily confuse the terms anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Anti-Semitism is the practice of extending prejudice and discrimination towards Jewish people just because they’re Jews. Anti-Zionism is a little vaguer, but in present political circumstances may be said to relate to the Israeli state – for which read Israeli government – extending prejudice and discrimination (and concomitant abuse and injustice) towards their non-Jewish neighbours. The two concepts are not quite diametrically opposed, but they’re not far off. And yet people fail to see the difference.

And this issue is, of course, central to the problem of the Israeli government treating the Palestinians abysmally. Any arm of any of the more influential western governments which steps over the line in criticising Israeli policies is immediately met by howls of ‘this is anti-Semitic!’ and everybody backs off. And so the Israeli government can do whatever it wants because they know they’re effectively immune to criticism. As far as I’m aware, Israel is the only country in the world which enjoys that dubious privilege.

So let’s look at what’s happening in Israel at the moment. Mr Netanyahu and his monstrous regiment of right wing hardliners are proposing to change the judicial system so as to place the Israeli government effectively above the law. Israel pretends to be a democratic state, and being above the law is hardly what a democratic state is supposed to be and the people of Israel don’t like it. Their mass protests have been so massive as to paralyse the workings of the country to such an extent that even the ultra-intractable Mr Netanyahu has been forced to delay his plans. So what interests me is this:

If the Israeli protesters – who may be presumed to consist almost entirely of Jews – can be allowed to oppose the Israeli state in a just cause without being accused of anti-Semitism, why can’t the rest of us?