“Israel is following policies which maximise its security threats... policies which choose expansion over security... policies which lead to their moral degradation, their isolation, their delegitimation, and very likely ultimate destruction.” Noam Chomsky
I wake up every morning to the news of another night of terror and death for the people of Gaza – and now also those living on the West Bank. Here in the UK our political ‘leaders’ (a misnomer there) continue to support the killings. In refusing to back calls for a ceasefire a Labour Party shadow minister argued that it would be wrong to say anything while there was ‘ongoing military action’. A bit like saying it would be wrong to say anything about Auschwitz while the gas ovens were still operating.
Talking of which I learned my anti-fascism from my father who was one of the first Allied doctors to enter Bergen Belsen concentration camp. As a toddler I emptied the bottom drawer of his desk and discovered photos of the emaciated bodies of the camp’s inmates. My politics developed from that moment.
I am proud of my many Jewish friends who are as angry as I am over Israeli massacres. Indeed I was going to attend last Saturday’s demonstration with Albert Einstein’’s great grandniece. Unfortunately she was too ill to come with me.
There are one or two who wrote me out of their lifetime script after I supported Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone. They, and therefore me, were considered to be anti-semites. Today Jeremy Corbyn has been replaced with a leader who holds the record for expelling Jews from the Labour Party.
I have written before about the historical background to Zionism and of its opponents, the proud Jewish tradition of Bundism, that survives to this day. Here it is and I hope those who still support Israel will read it and wake up tomorrow sharing my nightmares and determined to take whatever action they can to bring this terror to an end.
