Please also look for relevant content on our
A new article is up that covers Israel and recent events in Georgia
---------------
The Influence of Israel in Westminster.
By Janine Roberts
We British are not like Americans – we would not tolerate having Israeli lobbyists standing over our politicians like happens in Washington and thus gathering power. Why – they might bias our decisions over our foreign policy! The influence of Israel in Washington is well documented. It is exercised both through powerful overtly Jewish Washington organisations and, increasingly, through Christian Zionist organisations.
In Jerusalem two weeks ago 600 US Christians turned up to celebrate Israel’s birthday, in the name of a powerful US pro-Israeli lobbying group claiming to represent 40 million Christians and called Christians United for Israel, led by the millionaire Rev John Hagee – head of a Texas church and of a widely syndicated Christian TV station. Their organisation is modelled on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) whose conference in Washington last year drew 6,000 participants.
The Christians came to insist that Israel must have the whole of Jerusalem – and, after marching down Jaffa Street waving US and Israeli flags, a hundred of them went on April 3rd to the major Israeli settlement of Ariel to have a party featuring dancing cow girls put on for them by the Ariel mayor in thanks for millions given for its ‘vast new sports and recreation centre’ with the name of the Reverend emblazoned on its side.
Hagee declared. "I'm delighted to be in Ariel tonight, the heartland of America in Judea and Samaria," Afterwards, at a Jerusalem rally with Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of Likud and a close friend of Hagee, they announced on April 9th further donations of $6 million to various Israeli causes
The pastor declared "Turning part or all of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to the Taliban."
Its 2007 annual conference in Washington attracted more than 4,250. The conference highlight was a “surprise appearance” by Hagee-endorsed Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for President. His opening line was “It’s hard doing the Lord’s work in the city of Satan.” He received seven standing ovations.
Barack Obama under the Israeli lobby pressure took this position ‘Nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people from the failure of the Palestinian leadership to recognize Israel...` Hilary Clinton went further. She is calling for `an undivided Jerusalem as Israel`s capital`and thus is definately the Zionist favourite. Since 2004 Obama has received $93,700 of AIPAC money, while Hillary has taken $349,073.
However, a happier note, - a day before Hagee's visit to Ariel, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish religious organisation in the United States, with over 1.5 million members, denounced Hagee and his followers for religious extremism.
But nothing like this has ever happened here in the UK? Right?
The celebration at Windsor Castle of Israel’s 60th year
On the contrary, in some ways the Zionist lobby in this country has been even more successful – not simply historically, with getting the Balfour Declaration, but particularly in very recent times. In the US there are 13 Jews in the Senate and 30 in the House of Representatives, while in the UK, where we have a Jewish community 20 times smaller, - there are many more Jewish people in Parliament, There are 18 in the House of Commons and 41 in the House of Lords –. It is the highest Jewish representation in the West, and this achievement is due in part to Tony Blair’s patronage
Before New Labour was invented, the Labour party was more sympathetic to the Palestinians. Jon Mendelsohn of the Labour Friends of Israel has explained how it changed: '"Blair has attacked the anti-Israelism that had existed in the Labour Party. Old Labour was cowboys-and-Indians politics, picking underdogs to support, but the milieu has changed. Zionism is pervasive in New Labour. It is automatic that Blair will come to Labour Friends of Israel meetings."'
One of Blair’s first acts on becoming an MP in 1983 was to join Labour Friends of Israel. But the major change only occurred after he rose to control of the Labour party. To carry out his planned policies, he needed to try to break the funding influence of the trade unions. So he needed an ally with ample funds
In 1994, a legal friend and colleague of his, Eldred Tabachnik, Q.C., the former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, introduced him to Michael Levy, a pop music mogul and fundraiser for Jewish and Israeli causes, a member of the Jewish Agency World Board of Governors, and a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust. This was at a dinner party hosted by the Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir.
Soon afterwards Blair was invited to Levy’s palatial home and tennis courts. According to Andrew Porter of The Business, Levy expressed his willingness “to raise large sums of money for the party” if there was a “tacit understanding that Labour would never again, while Blair was leader, be anti-Israel”.
The result: Levy ran the Labour Leader’s Office Fund to finance Blair’s campaign in the 1997 General Election. Levy in effect made New Labour possible. For this he was rewarded immediately with a peerage, as were some of their other donors. Levy has described himself as “a leading international Zionist” and he has since praised Blair for his ‘solid and committed support of the State of Israel’
But, Blair needed a constant source of funds if he was to reduce the influence of the unions – and, it seems, he needed to hide its source lest it be questioned. One of the better known figures at Labour Friends of Israel is David Abrahams, a Jewish property developer. The President of the Zionist Federation, Eric Moonman vouches for him: “I know David well and have travelled with him on a number of occasions.’ Abrahams took on part of the task of secretly funding New Labour. He gave more than £650,000 to the Party under four other people’s names – a move since admitted to be unlawful by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown but which has had no legal consequence.
Abrahams explains generally that he wanted to remain anonymous as he is a ‘private person.’ But he said far more to the British Jewish Chronicle. He said he gave the money to Labour secretly since he did not want ‘Jewish money’ and the Labour Party to be linked, thinking this would make people suspect there was a Jewish conspiracy.
Labour Party officials initially denied knowing about these secret methods but evidence has since emerged that Abrahams was at the time in close contact with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's election campaign adviser, Jon Mendelsohn, who also happens to be the ex-chairman of the lobby group Labour Friends of Israel. Other Jewish members of Labour Friends of Israel kicked in money. Lord Sainsbury gave a million pounds. Levy by 2001 had raised £15 million. Thus the Israeli lobby helped Labour break the power of the trade unions, in return for reshaping the entire UK political scene in the interests of Israel.
Quite astonishingly, once they had discovered them, the press treated these secret donations with kid gloves. Very few asked what was the Israeli lobby hoping to gain from such massive donations. No one asked, as far as I am aware, if it were Tony Blair who had wanted these donations kept secret – and if so, why? Few speculated on the foreign policy implications.
As we now know Iraq was never a threat to the UK – but it was potentially to Israel. Blair told his Jewish audiences, "a stable Iraq will be good news for Israel." He also held back from doing anything to bring the fighting to an end while Israel was bombing Lebanon.
Levy became our “special envoy” to the Middle-East despite having a serous conflict of Interest. He was supposed to negotiate impartially with Palestinians and Israelis but he had acted as a fundraiser for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak as well as lobbying for Israel in the UK. He has both a business and a house in Israel and calls himself an ‘international Zionist.’
A Labour campaign advert in the Jewish Chronicle has boasted that since 1997 a record 57 Labour MPs have visited Israel, mostly with [and funded by] Labour Friends of Israel, ‘swelling the number of MPS willing to ensure balance on the Middle East in the House of Commons. More Labour MPs have visited Israel than from any other party. ‘ The advert also boasted that the Terrorism Act of 2000 – for which LFI actively lobbied – “proscribes terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” all being enemies of Israel rather than of the UK.
GORDON BROWN.
Gordon is more personally immersed in Zionism than Blair. It is something he grew up with in his childhood. He told a recent gathering.’ I have been proud to be a member of Labour Friends of Israel over three decades. My father used to spend many weeks in Israel, he was the chairman of the Church of Scotland’s Israel Committee, `He went on visits to meet people twice a year for more than 20 years.
Gordon Brown said in a speech: 'I was brought up on slides on an old projector, all these photographs that he brought back of Israel’s history, books about Israel, and I learned very young and at first hand from my father of the struggles, the sacrifices the achievements of the new state of Israel and of the Israeli people. So I just want to say to you who are also friends of Israel that I was brought up with a very strong understanding that the future of Israel matters not just to Israel itself but matters to the whole of the world and I will continue to do what I can both to defend Israel ...'He has also stated: “I was brought up impressed by the sufferings and courage of the Jewish people, aware of the great achievements in creating the State of Israel, most of all impressed by the determination that, from whatever source, discrimination in all its forms must be fought”
One of Gordon Brown's first acts after assuming the Prime Minister's role was to accept an appointment as Patron of the Jewish National Fund founded in 1901. The Israeli government sold to this Fund the land seized from Arab refugees – and then made this land only available for Jews to settle on. It planted forests over the uprooted olive trees of former Palestinian settlements. It currently owns about 14% of Israel.
Brown then announced that 2 children per UK secondary school will be funded to go to the site of the Auschwitz death camp. For this the Holocaust Educational Trust has honoured him. He has also been supporting economic schemes for the West bank advocated by Sir Ronald Cohen's Portland Trust.
But it is Brown’s appointments that are much more worrying. He has ensured continued Jewish funding of New Labour by appointing Mendelssohn of Labour Friends of Israel as his chief fundraiser for the next election. He has also appointed former British ambassador to Israel, Simon McDonald, as his chief foreign policy adviser. Israel has expressed satisfaction with the choice, saying he is "a true friend to Israel."
He also made James Purnell, the chairman of Labour Friends of Israel from 2002 to 2004, secretary of state for culture media and sport, giving him oversight over the British Broadcasting Corporation and the rest of the British media. In a letter published in Prospect in December 2004, Purell said: ‘Some people are trying to turn Israel into a global villain, the new pariah regime to take the place of apartheid-era South Africa … ‘When some people talk as if Israel is entirely to blame, I ask why. The only answer I can find is that there is something deep in our cultural memory that makes us disposed to blame Jews.’ (In 2008 Brown put Purnell in charge of Pensions.)
Gordon Brown gave Jim Murphy, Chairman of Labour Friends of Israel from 2000-02, the position of Minister of State for Europe with responsibility for the BBC World Service and the British Council. Most worrying of all, his new Middle East Minister is Kim Howells a former chair of Labour Friends of Israel. The Director of Labour Friends of Israel is David Mencer, a former volunteer for the Israeli Defence Force.
Labour Friends of Israel now has a burgeoning membership in the Commons and is seen as a certain ladder for success by aspiring politicians. Receptions hosted by the lobby usually boast a huge turnout, with such guests as Gordon Brown, the Israeli ambassador and the Israeli Deputy Minister of Defence. At Labour party conference the prime minister attends the LFI meeting, and so do a good number of cabinet members. Such high-level attendance is rare for a fringe meeting
The Labour Party’s policy-defining Smith Institute is now very much under the influence of the Israeli lobby. Its chairman is Lord Haskel who is also a member of the Parliamentary Executive of the Labour Friends of Israel. The Smith Institute's board includes Baroness Meta Ramsay, a longtime MI-6 intelligence officer who is House of Lords chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, and Tony Blair is of course now the Quartet's Envoy to the Middle East.
They actively monitor the media and try to remove criticism of Israel. Thus an alleged reference to Israel as that 'shitty little country' made by the French Ambassador at a dinner hosted by Contrad Black immediately elicited a letter from the LFI demanding that the Ambassador be sacked. LIkewise they maintained a dossier on Ken Livingstone.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown seems to be the only mainstream journalist to have dared to question the Labour Friends of Israel. In an article entitled 'Such lobbyists and their back-room influence should make us very uneasy' published on 03 December 2007 she stated:
'Pardon me for asking. Perhaps I shouldn't. For an easy life, some things, you learn, are best left unsaid. Nervous, am I? You bet. But these questions will not stand aside or lie down. They have been bothering me since the Labour party donor row broke last week. They are raised here in good faith. I have no wish to bring the wrath of Moses upon me and I can already hear the accusations of anti-Semitism because I dare to raise the question: Can someone explain what exactly is the role of the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) in our political life? And its twin, the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) too. '
'In an open democracy, we are entitled to make such queries – indeed, it is a duty. David Abrahams, the strange shape-shifter at the centre of the funding furore, was once Mr Big in LFI; so is John Mendelsohn, the smart fundraiser picked by Gordon Brown to garner "election resources" to finance the next Labour win. Lord Levy is also a key member of LFI. '
'We witnessed the tortuous police investigation into the peer's affairs during the cash for honours investigations, but not once was there any scrutiny of Levy's connection to LFI and how that might have led to the offer of his prestigious position as the Middle East envoy, handed to him by his tennis partner, Tony Blair.
I rang some of my Jewish friends who support LFI and are well acquainted with Abrahams and Mendelsohn. Two have known both professionally for some time and others have personal relationships with these men. I felt their unease as we talked about this latest unsavoury New Labour scandal. Some of these contacts confirm that Abrahams and Mendelsohn fell out at a dramatic LFI meeting when Abrahams wanted the group to make contact with a particular Palestinian organisation and Mendelsohn vehemently disagreed.
OK. Internal strife among campaigners is part of the deal, and Palestine, as we know, divides Jewish opinion the whole world over. Such things happen all the time when communal champions gather. It happens within Palestinian forums too. But LFI is not only an activist network. It enviably attracts the support of top parliamentarians, almost all prime ministers for a start. Its fringe meetings are packed because, on the platform, they can guarantee the biggest names from the political parties.
Founded in 1957, it then had a lot of politicians on side, says one of my contacts. After the 1967 war, support for Israel became more problematic and LFI had to become more strategic and focused to keep MPs on side.
Mendelsohn is a passionate Zionist and infamous lobbyist, described by the Jewish Chronicle as "one of the best-connected power brokers". So we can assume LFI plays a part in shaping our foreign policies in the Middle East – the most inflammable tinderbox in the world today.
And that is neither right nor fair. The LFI take, by definition, has to be partisan. It exists to present the official Israeli view; it cannot be nuanced or considerate to "the enemy". I would venture to suggest that Tony Blair's abject performance during the last Israeli assault on Lebanon was partly the result of the special relationship he had with LFI.
The current scandal and its links to LFI only encourages fascist and Islamicist propagators of the idea of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. Look on the crazed websites today and you see how they feed on this crisis and rejoice. LFI is the most successful of many interest groups which have been allowed to exert undue pressure on policies.
There is Labour Friends of India, more courted and favoured than ever before. When the Hindu fundamentalist BJP was in power, this group ensured the support of British MPs who should have known better. The Muslim Friends of Labour has donated large amounts of money in Glasgow, I imagine for some reciprocal advantage. Such lobbyists and their considerable back-room influence, how they can manipulate politicians and the media, and the secrecy of the conversations they have with the powerful, should make us very uneasy. There are no records we may look at, no transparency. As far as I know, no civil servants take notes. Yet decisions they can drive through do affect the future of the whole world. '
Whatever the outcome of the various investigations into the unlawful proxy donations, and who did what when with Abrahams' £600,000, the issue of insider lobbying by interest groups is as serious, possibly more so, and must not be ignored.'
It is astonishing that we have allowed it to spread through the corridors of power and infuse the air that breathed there. This corruption has no whiff, no colour. It is deadly and must now be stopped at source. '
y.alibhai-brown@ independent.co.uk
A recent achievement of Labour Friends of Israel.
They have strongly and powerfully lobbyed for the UK and EU to cut off financial aid to the Gaza Strip as long as the elected Hamas government of Hamas is in power. Thus they share respoinsibility with Israel for the current atrocious and miserable living conditions in the Gaza, including the children dying because they are not allowed to go to Israeli hospitals and Gazan hospitals have been sanctioned out of medical supplies.
Labour Friends of Israel briefed the party:
'Hamas’s election manifesto is softer than its charter, in that it does not explicitly call for the destruction of the state of Israel. Yet it still advocates the continuation of the armed struggle, and offers not more than a long ‘hudna’ (truce) in return for an Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Israel is tolerated as an unfortunate reality, but her right to exist as a Jewish state is not recognised. This refusal to recognise Israel’s legitimacy or any agreement signed with her by the PLO, and their insistence on the continuation of the armed struggle, makes it hard to imagine a future Hamas government as a partner for peace negotiations, not only with Israel, but in the eyes of the international community. As a result, the US, Quartet and EU, while congratulating the democratic process in Palestine, have all warned that, without renouncing terrorism and recognising Israel, there will be no negotiations with a Hamas-formed government.
Bringing Hamas to change its position depends, to a large extent, on this united front in the international community.
LFI's recomendation.... For an economy which relies so heavily on foreign aid – to the tune of $1billion annually from donor countries and a further $55 million each month from taxes collected by Israel – the withdrawal of aid would place intense pressure on a Hamas government that refused to modify its policies.'
' However, the international community and Israel cannot in practice stop completely the transfer of money as it could push the Palestinian economy out of the protracted humanitarian crisis from which it currently suffers and into a full-scale disaster. '
As for the TORIES
The political director of Conservative Friends of Israel claims that with over 2,000 members and registered supporters alongside 80 percent of the Conservative MPs, they are now the largest affiliated group in the party. They run six deputations to Israel a year – paid for by the organisation. They engage in intensive lobbying – including providing briefing notes to Brown, They maintain constant contact with the Israeli embassy.
Their website is stridently anti Hezbollah and they maintain a careful vetting of all new Parliamentary candidates. ‘Within the Conservative Party, we actively support candidates, especially in marginal constituencies. Our programme for prospective parliamentary candidates provides weekly briefings, events with speakers, and a chance to participate in delegations to Israel. Our members give financial support and campaigning help where it matters.’
Robert Halfon is Political Director of Conservative Friends of Israel and has been fast tracked to re-stand in Harlow at the next election.
Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader of the Conservative Party has stated “I am proud not just to be a Conservative, but a Conservative Friend of Israel; and I am proud of the key role CFI plays within our Party.” His recent tour of Israel began with a two hour Black Hawk helicopter flight with the Israeli defence minister to see the country's borders
Dr Liam Fox MP, Shadow Defence Secretary has stated. Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided.”
They do not mention that since 2000 there have been four times more Palestinians killed than Israelis, and ten times more Palestinian children than Israeli. (Israeli B’Tselem figures).
The Liberal Democrats
They too have a parliamentary 'Friends of Israel Group' and its website is stridently pro-Israel - in fact much more so than that of the Labour group. it was the first such party group to be established. It states its prime objective is 'to influence the Party’s Middle East policy so it places a high priority on Israel’s right to peace and security. '
It also states incredibly that it is a 'myth' that 'Israel "occupies" the West Bank' and a 'myth' that 'the Jews created the refugee problem by expelling the Palestinians.'
The Christian Friends of Israel (UK).
An international organisation with bases in some twenty countries. In the UK it has particularly close ties with the Tory Friends of Israel, helping to man its stall at party functions and particularly helping to make sure that future Tory MPs are selected in part because they are supporters of Israel. It runs frequent tours to Israel. A recent bus tour it organised managed to skirt around the West Bank - except of course for Jerusalem and Bethleham.
They state that 'we are a ministry with a twin focus. We seek to: 1. Bless Israel by means of practical and moral support. 2. Serve the Church with teaching and resources about God's love and purposes for Israel and the Hebraic roots of our failth. It thus teaches Hebrew, prays in Hebrew and uses many directly borrowed Jewish elements in its rituals.
It also teaches on its website that
"The British Empire disappeared because she was no longer the friend of the Jewish people, but became her enemy, using both her Navy and the Air Force to try to stop the Holocaust survivors from reaching the Promised Land.'
Two Comments on the USA parent groups
Nancy Roman, the director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Washington programme. "Part of what is happening is that the evangelical community in the U.S. is becoming more engaged in the political process," "Whereas the church used to counsel people not to engage in politics, many churches are now counseling the opposite. "It's important and it will have a huge influence on foreign policy over time," she added.
Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, says that "Christian Zionism is responsible for American support for some of the most irredentist Israeli positions," including of Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied territories, highlighting evangelical Christians’ strong influence in shaping the U.S. Middle East policy. She says that the movement's influence is even stronger than the Jewish lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC. "The influence of Hagee is to make the American public support the government's completely one-sided, hawkishly pro-Israel stance. These groups have much more influence than Aipac or the so-called Israel lobby."
AND WE CANNOT FORGET THE EU.
Benita Ferrero Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner, has indicated that she is keener to foster closer ties with Israel than with almost any other country in the Mediterranean region. As well as remarking that Israel is "closer to the European Union than ever before," she said that a "reflection group" is studying how relations between the two sides can be upgraded to a "truly special status." Whereas formal bodies have been set up to deal with human rights questions in Morocco and Jordan, only an informal "working group" addresses such issues in the case of Israel. Israel is generally treated as if it is a member of Europe despite being outside it - just as it is for Soccer and for the Eurovision contest - yet its religiously biased constitution is a bar from membership.
IN CONCLUSION The Palestinian people have paid a very high price for the rise of New Labour – and it is surely past time to reverse this.
Transcript - Major Israeli Debate
on the One State or Two State Solutions.
between Uri Avnery and Ilan Pappe
&
Speaker at the forthcoming Bristol Nakba Conference
Malcolm X Centre, Bristol, UK. Saturday 26 April 2008
A photo story about the beginning of the end of the Wall.
A major new illustrated case study of a large Israeli Settlement.
ARIEL - a dagger aimed at the heart of any future Palestinian State.
by Janine Roberts c2008
One State or Two States?
What is the choice? Two States as being currently discussed, with some or all Israeli settlement colonies coming under Palestinian authority - in which half the population is given 12-20% of the land, along with inferior rights and far greater poverty, while their compatriots living in Israel are forced to remain inferior citizens living among an exclusively Jewish privileged class. Surely this is not a long-term solution but a recipe for continuing unrest and anger?
Right of Return for Palestinian residents driven out in 1948, , - graffiti in East Jerusalem
In the short term, for those now living in the West Bank or Gaza Strip - this initial step would entail a vast improvement in quality of life simply because of the ending of military occupation. It is thus very worthwhile achieving. But other changes are necessary for the refugees who outnumber these residents and over one million Palestinian Israelis - and the Palestinian recognition of this has long been a major sticking point in negotiations. Recognition of their rights requires the reformation of Israel into a plurialistic state in which all citizens, no matter of what religion, have equal rights - as is now a legal necessity within Europe. Without such a reformation - what chance is there for long-term peace?
With such a reformation - at last there could evolve a region in which all the inhabitants live together in equality and justice - either in two states living peacefully alongside each other with an intertwined economy but differing cultures, or eventually perhaps as one state.
What for the One State solution right now? Palestinians would not want surely to become one with the current Israel - in which they are very much second-class citizens, with Muslim and Christian exiles refused their right to return to their homeland.. Israel would have to change before such a solution becomes desirable. But, as I said above, it has to change anyway.
But, if Israel recognises the rights of the refugees, Muslim and Christian, to an orderly return, if the Arab Israelis secure equal rights - if Israel hereby becomes a far more balanced and fair society in which all religions are accorded equal status, then surely everything becomes possible - even a reborn Holy Land.
(In 2007, with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank becoming more and more extensive, the debate opened up on the One State solution - led by firm anti-Zionists such as the Electronic Intifada and ICAHD -with several books advocating it and with a One State conference in London.)
Click here for the ONE STATE DECLARATION
How the current Two State Solution became the Israeli Salvation Solution.
Read what Israel's newspapers are saying - and the view of a Palestinian Jew. Then go onto the next piece - written by eyewitnesses.
An Unholy Land Grab: The Seizure of a Palestinian Farm
Read about a fight of great significance happening now on the West Bank - we had our tires slashed by the Israeli settlers - which is absolutely nothing compared to what happened to the locals, One Israeli died and 400 settlers attacked the nearest Palestinian town, Al Funduq, and smashed it up. .
The RIGHT to RETURN - A Key Issue
One would expect all Jewish residents of Israel to recognize that others may legitimately wish to return to their ancestral lands - for after that is why Jews wish to go back to Israel. Currently they mostly deny the Mustim and Christian Palestinians have the same right of return as given to Jews by quoting Jewish religious doctrines and denying the ancient history of the Palestinians. This also leads to racism as well as to frustration and anger among those denied the right to return possessed by all refugees.
The Right to a Jewish State
Many countries name themselves as religious states - among them the UK where the Church of England officially presides and the Islamic Republic of Iran. So what is wrong with the way Israel calls itself a Jewish state? What was wrong with President Bush saying on his visit to Israel that he supported the Jewish character of Israel."
It comes down to the civil rights possessed by all citizens. If those of one religion are given far greater rights in law, then this creates social division - and a bitter society. This is true whatever the religion being preferred. It was the situation in Northern Ireland.
In the case of Israel, there are currently living within its boundaries about 5 and a half million Jewish Israelis and 1 and a quarter million Israelis of Arab race and of Muslim or Christian faith. The privileges given to Jews within Israel have left the latter very much as second-class citizens. For example, if an Arab citizen of Israel marries an Arab living in the Palestinian territories, their partner will not be allowed to live in Israel. This is 'justified' by the need to keep Israel Jewish.
Currently overseas Jews, no matter how tenuous or ancient their link to Israel, are given a guaranteed right to citizenship and to live in Israel while the Arab refugees who have lived for generations in what is now Israel, who still have close family relations in Israel, have no right of return at all. Israel in 1952 cancelled their rights to their property in Israel - something they would not let any other country do to a member of the Jewish people.
Israel enjoys membership in European football leagues and in Eurovision - privileges not given to any other non-European state, so perhaps it is about time it also signed up to the European Civil Rights legislation - which bans the religious discrimination they practice.
What if Israel allowed in the Arab refugeees whose families fled from the lands now possessed by Israel?
Israel says it cannot do this - and remain a Jewish state, for those of the Muslim faith who return may outnumber the Jews. This is the crux of the issue. But historians are now revealing more and more evidence that proves the Arab residents of what was then Palestine were deliberately forced out, 'ethnically cleansed', by the Jewish forces of the Zionist movement. This gives these refugees the clearest right in International Law to return to the lands from which they were illegally 'cleansed' in 1948 and again in 1969.
It surely should not be an issue of dispair for Israel. They are not faced with a hundred more years of warfare but the challenge of remaking their land as a true symbol of international justice and respect for human rights, a true beacon in the Middle East.
________
A Note on the Vocabulary of this Website.
Anti-Semitic. This logically should mean discrimination against any member of the Semitic races, or against the speakers of the Semitic languages among which the most widely spoken is Arabic, but it has been hijacked to mean only discrimination against a small part of the Semitic world, against those of the Jewish religion. Logically, it is anti-semitic to racially abuse Palestinians, Arabs and Jews. It is about time this term received its correct usage.
Settlements and Settlers. These terms are widely used by the Western Press and in English to refer to the colonies that Israel has illegally set up on the West Bank - but this is not the normal usage of these words. In English they simply refer to a place where people have 'settled' or placed their homes. To use these words for illegal occupations is to use them as euphemisms. The more accurate terms, and the translation of the terms used in Arabic, are 'colonies' and colonizers.' The illegal occupiers of Palestinian property could also be called 'squatters' or 'trespassers'.
Video - Christian End timers for Israel
Zionism and the One State Solution
(Democracy - an existential threat to Israel?)
by Ali Abunimah and Omar Barghouti