Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and organised one of their most shameless interventions, ever, in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation.
NEW ZEALAND’S GOVERNMENT faces a difficult choice between
doing the right thing and the expedient thing over Israel’s latest outrage.
This country has a proud record of lending its voice to the United Nations’
condemnation of the Israeli state’s repeated violations of international norms
in its treatment of the Palestinian people. In the current international
climate, however, upholding that proud diplomatic record risks making New
Zealand politicians targets for Israeli destabilisation.
The latest, and potentially one of the most dangerous,
Israeli threats to the Palestinians has been issued by the Israeli Prime
Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. His proposal is, in essence, to annex the entire
Jordan Valley to the Israeli state. Were he to be in a position, following the
pending Israeli elections, to implement this promise, all hope of a “two state
solution” peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would
evaporate completely.
For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed
to dismiss any prospect of Israeli destabilisation, the example of the United
Kingdom repays close attention.
Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the
British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and organised one of
their most shameless interventions, ever, in the domestic affairs of a
sovereign nation.
Utilising every individual, group and institution responsive
to Jerusalem’s guidance, the Israeli national security apparatus first
redefined and then weaponised the concept of antisemitism, unleashing it upon
Corbyn and his supporters with unprecedented political fury. Challenges to the
foreign and domestic policies of the Israeli state – such as Corbyn has made
for the past 30 years – are now routinely presented as incontrovertible proof
of his antisemitic prejudice.
Such a self-serving redefinition of antisemitism would,
almost certainly, have been laughed off the political stage had it not been for
the extraordinary support it received from the mainstream British news media.
It is no accident that the two media organisations
responsible for prosecuting Corbyn’s “antisemitism” most forcefully are the BBC
and The Guardian. Had these two leaders of liberal opinion refused to
buy into Jerusalem’s campaign, the attack would have had to be carried out by
all the usual right-wing media suspects. That apparently “left-wing”
journalists and columnists were willing to brand Corbyn an antisemite was
crucial to the campaign’s impact.
So, how does the definition work? The proposition advanced
is a very simple one.
The State of Israel represents the last, best hope of
protecting the Jewish people from persecution and genocide. To suggest that the
Jews can rely upon anybody but the State of Israel in this respect is to
wilfully misread the lessons of history. To undermine in any way the strength
and coherence of the Israeli state is, therefore, a hostile act. Those who do
so represent a clear and present danger to the Jewish people’s sanctuary. Only
those who seek to do the Jews harm could countenance such a policy. They are, ipso
facto, antisemites.
That this simplistic formula actually works on well-educated
and otherwise progressive individuals is explicable in no small measure by the
identity of those who have, over the course of the last 70 years, made no
secret of their wish to destroy the State of Israel. Journalists over 60 recall
the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and ask themselves what
would have happened had the Israeli Defence Force not prevailed. Younger
intellectuals remember the terrorist campaigns of the PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah,
and ponder the ethics of “ proactive self-defence”.
“If you’re looking for a good reason to stand with the
Jewish people,” say Israel’s defenders, “just take a look at who’s standing
against them.”
The Israeli case is strengthened by the geopolitical
considerations that have never ceased to drive the policies of both the United
Kingdom and the United States – especially when it comes to oil. The repeated
trashing of the Middle East by the UK and the USA, from the end of World War II
to the present day, has, among many other effects, increased immeasurably the
military and economic strength of Israel. All three states have a powerful
vested interest in keeping the balance of power firmly tilted in Israel’s
favour.
Such are the considerations that New Zealand’s diplomats
must weigh before responding to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s incendiary promise.
Our convalescing Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, will, therefore, be asking
himself two vital questions.
Dare we remain silent in the face of a policy that can only
lead to the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Israeli-occupied
territory?
And.
Will Jacinda thank me for adding the fearsome capabilities
of the Israeli national security apparatus to a plate already piled high with
troubles?
This essay was originally posted on The Daily Blog
of Friday, 13 September 2019.
16 comments:
1. Imagine if the Apartheid South Africans had such a well organised propaganda wing and powerful diaspora, Mandela would have died in jail and white Minority rule would still be with us. BDS now! No more colluding with 21st Century Apartheid.
2. The unprecedented political assassination of Corbyn has served one god purpose. More thinking people than ever are awake and appalled at the reality of the Israeli state. It will take time to achieve justice for Palestine and the inauguration of a non sectarian Palestina Republic encompassing the whole land from the Jordan to the Med but IT WILL happen.
Count me proudly anti semitic (by Isreali standards). Anti Jewish, absolutely not.
What is missing from the Zionist future narrative is the impact that the end of oil will bring in the next half century. The implications are that the USA will no longer be able to project power, and because the oil is all used they won't have reason to.
Isreal without the West will drown in a sea of Arabs, it's like the Crusades in replay. Any sensible policy would seek to redress and accommodate Palestinian claims and build a safe future. The alternative is to invite another holocaust.
Can the Isreali state project subversive soft power in NZ? Indeed, but I suspect that the days of knee jerk political correctness where cries of racism stick are numbered. Take that away and hard-nosed examination of these charges will show them for the bollocks they are.
especially when it comes to oil.
I'm always intrigued by this argument. Logically the best way for America to have secured solid access to cheap ME oil decades ago would have been to sell out Israel.
It was certainly the thinking of DeGaulle's France after Arab threats post-1967. No more Mirage fighters for the IDF after that.
The saddest of ironies in all this, is that zionism is now the biggest feeder to anti-semitism. I've never met so many people who are now so open about there anti-semitism, and the work of a violent, racist and smug israeli state is what they point to as proof that jews control the world, and can not be trusted.
Did I mention irony, Oh yeah there more - that the israeli form of zionism has turned into the thing they keep arguing they protecting against - totalitarians hell bent on genocide.
Can we even talk about the Palestinian Christians? But were probably not supposed to mention that being a Palestinian and a Christian means you will get treated just as badly as if your a Muslim by Israel. I noticed that the persecution section from wikipedia has been removed again - after being heavily watered down for a fourth time, in as many months.
But I'm sure our government will keep buying israeli back robot tech, and other weapons from israel. SO the PM has nothing to worry about, weapon sales means we are buddies - and those on the left with a conscious don't count one bit.
Israel should have annexed the West Bank years ago.
The "two state solution" would mean American Indian reservations for the Palestinians and a country too narrow to defend for the Israelis.
I feel for the Palestinians but the Jews have been kicking their arses since 1948.You would think they would have got the message and adjusted to life in a Jewish-majority state, or moved somewhere else.
The Palestinians do have a state, it is called Jordan. But they shat in that nest by trying to overthrow the King in the 1970s, got their arses kicked ( I am seeing a pattern here) and fled to Lebanon where their arrival precipitated a civil war.
Israel has tried to steal our passports and they helped a member of the French Rainbow Warrior team escape justice.
Whatever their faults Israel, is the only democratic state in the Middle East. For that reason alone New Zealand should stand with Israel.
I generally agree with your article. I agree that there has been a systemic and funded campaign to redefine Zionism as anti-Semitism and it has been directed to undermine Corbyn. However, it is naive to ignore that there is, and always has been, an anti-jewish small minority within the British Labour party and left movements.
Corbyn has failed to draw the difference between the disingenuous attacks described by Chris and that faction. Criticism that he has not been able to rein in and distingous that is worthy of scrutiny by the progressive media.
Chris
The politics of the Middle East are complex and multi-layered. Israel has a history in the land that goes back more than 3,000 years. It has always been contested, there has always been violence and injustice, there will never be a two state 'solution' while one party doesn't want peace, but rather the complete destruction of the other.
Jeremy Corbyn has a long history of publicly supporting Hamas, who are openly committed to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Does that political stance mean he is an anti-semite? Probably.
Our treatment of Israel at the UN by both major parties / government, has been appalling. The UN has shown itself to be a corrupt, self serving institution that deserves to be defunded.
There are 70 Million refugees from war and persecution in the world whose plight we largely ignore. There are 4 Million Palestinians whose cause is kept alive endlessly for one reason only. I'd suggest that Israel and the Jews are not our enemy, and we would do well to remember their 20th century history if we want to place their present stance in a wider context.
"I feel for the Palestinians" it's pretty obvious you don't.
"but the Jews have been kicking their arses since 1948.You would think they would have got the message and adjusted to life in a Jewish-majority state, or moved somewhere else."
Yes it's just that simple leave everything behind and go live somewhere else. Christ, I'm surprised all those 'Maries' don't leave here. After all, they been having their arses kicked since 1840 something.
Well Brendan I do agree with you. There will never be peace until Israelis stop calling for the complete destruction of a Palestinian state.
Hamas incidentally dropped its call for the destruction of the Israeli state sometime around 2017. It is now willing to settle for the 1967 borders, unfortunately major Israeli parties now are intent on and annexing more and more of the West Bank. That's what prevents the construction of a Palestinian state rather than some mythical "one-party doesn't want peace" bullshit.
Geez Brendan after mentioning that the politics of the Middle East is complex, you seem to manage to avoid all the complexities.
Shane, Soth Africa in apartheid days was democratic too, if you were white, sort of like Isreal is if you are Jewish. Is that a reason to support a state just because it portrays itself as democratic?
Brendan, You are right Isreal and the Jews are not our enemy, in the same way apartheid era Afrikaaners and South Africa were not an enemy. They were, like Isreal wayward children whose outlandish behaviour placed them in contempt.
Funny thing, many white South Africans were actively opposed to apartheid, as many Jews are opposed to the Zionist state.
Seems to me that Isreal has taken a leaf out of the Imperial and the Nazi national anthem, literally Germany above all others. We know where that ended. The Isreali way is to describe themselves as God's chosen people, above the rest of humanity. It's a license like divine right to do as you will with others. It's a recipe for a repeat of history which can still be avoided if like the Afrikaaners they read the writing on the wall.
Corbyn is not antisemitic, he doesn't do racial prejudice. He like me understands the difference between a criminal country and a religion. I suspect like me he wants equity for both parties. For that he is damned with abuse and slurs. I thought you might be better than that.
GS You should have said it.....agree with your post above, the Maries bit is spot on.
Comparisons between apartheid-era South Africa and Israel are common among supporters of the Palestinian cause.
South Africa denied the vote to the bulk of the population on the basis of ethnicity. Does Israel deny the vote to its Arab minority ?
Israel IS the only democratic state in the Middle East. Can any of you name ONE democratic Arab state ? Maybe Tunisia, barely and shakily. The rest are theocracies and secular dictatorships with appalling human rights records.
Appalling human rights records that supporters of the Palestinian state ignore.
Maori used Pakeha courts to get justice: "Te ture patu te ture", the law shall fight the law.
Ngai Tahu pursued their cause through non-violent means, informally since 1849 and formally since 1909. It took till 1997 to get justice, but they got there.
Since 1997 the putea has grown from $160 million to over $2 billion. Not bad for a people who have been " getting their arses kicked since 1840".
Palestinians use suicide bombers - including children - in pursuit of their hopeless cause, with a conspicuous lack of success.
They use cowardly terror attacks because they can't beat the Israelis in open battle.
The Israelis had to fight against overwhelming odds to gain and keep their nation state.
I do have a great deal of sympathy for the Palestinians. The issue is not right versus wrong, it is right versus right.
But it is obvious to the blind that the Palestinians will never have a viable nation state. And the sooner they and their supporters accept this fact the better.
Shane, your talk of Isreal as a democracy is rather disingenuous. The propaganda machines such as the US funded Freedom House "rate" Isreal as the only democracy in the Middle East, despite there being elections in Egypt, Turkey and others. All rather selective I'd suggest in an imperfect area.
Arab citizens of Isreal can vote, but that in effect excludes the displaced Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza who in effect have been invaded and ejected by a hostile "democracy'.
My concern doesn't glorify the Palestinian cause, or vilify the Isreali cause. I am pointing out that like South Africa a hostile minority cannot repress an aggrieved majority for ever. If Jews are to have a long term existence in Isreal they must seek an equitable settlement.
" Does Israel deny the vote to its Arab minority"
Geez – and after Brendan explaining that the Middle East is complicated and all. There's more than one way to skin a cat. And Israel is very adept at minimising the effects of its policies on world opinion by getting very close to the edge but not quite going over. The Palestinians have exactly zero power in the Knesset, due to various discriminatory rules and regulations. And Israelis are certainly not giving the vote to those Arabs who were expelled – or even their property back so they are a permanent minority.
I think Nick encapsulates it. Israel must seek out and equitable settlement, or they have no long-term future. Unfortunately none of the Israeli politicians seem capable of thinking in the long-term. But I guess that's politicians all over.
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