Israel's Anti-Semitism

What if I were to tell you that an inherent part of Judaism is the mass-murder of innocent people? What if I told you that it was impossible to be a Jew without supporting the massacre of civilians in refugee camps? What if I were to say that all Jews support the displacement of millions of people, the torture of children, the destruction of an entire country?

If I were to say any of that, I would quite rightly be called an anti-Semite. Those are incredibly anti-Semitic things to say. So why is it that when the Israeli government says those things, it is those who argue against them who are labelled anti-Semitic? When the pro-Israel lobby says that their opponents are anti-Semites, and that their many Jewish opponents are self-hating Jews, then what they are saying is that to be a Jew is to support apartheid and war crimes. Those of us who abhor anti-Semitism, and indeed anyone who knows anything about Judaism, knows that this is not true. A vast number of Jews - including Holocaust survivors and former members of the Hagannah - have condemned Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people. David Rovics is an anti-Zionist; Emma Goldman was an anti-Zionist; Primo Levi became more and more critical of Israel as time went by. Obviously, noone in their right mind would accuse those people of hating Jews. But Zionists do.

Articles such as this one have tried to accuse the anti-Zionist movement of anti-Semitism. The claims made in this article are ridiculous, but they warrant examination. The central claim is that many of the organisations targeted by the BDS campaign are Jewish organisations. Let me make this abundantly clear; any person or group who gives material support to Israel is a legitimate target for anti-Zionist action. Saying that we should exempt Jewish organisations from this campaign in order not to look anti-Semitic is like saying that we should fight terrorism, but not Islamic terror, because that might look racist.

On to the more serious topic, then, of actual anti-Semitism. No, as someone who grew up in a largely Muslim area, I am well aware that anti-Semitism gets worse whenever Israel starts to kill Palestinians at a higher rate than usual. But why are the anti-Zionists the ones who have to fend off accusations of anti-Semitism? We don;t blow up schools in the name of Judaism - the Israelis do that. We don;t torture children in the name of Judaism - the Israelis do that. If someone bombed my house, imprisoned my freinds without trial, destroyed my farmland, and starved my people all in the name of Judaism, then I'd be pretty anti-Semitic too, just as I'm sure that if I had lost a loved one in 7/7 I'd hate Muslims. And if you saw, every night on TV, people being butchered in the name of a religion - and if that was your only encounter with that religion - who could blame you for hating that religion?

The Israeli government are the ones who are committing atrocities in the name of Judaism; they are the ones dragging the name of the Jewish people through the mud. Jews should hate Israel just as Muslims should hate ISIS. And if you think that's anti-Semitic, you an go fuck yourself with a cactus.

No gods
No masters
Free Palestine
Free Gaza

Live review - Tom Robinson, Best Boy Grip

I've been going to see Tom Robinson every year or two since I was about fifteen, so I pretty much knew what to expect last night. I was not disappointed. He came out swinging with a blistering version of "Don;t Take No For An Answer" that proved that, at the age of sixty-three, he still knows how to rock. The first of two forty-five minute sets was made up of the hits and so was inevitably dominated by material from the Tom Robinson Band. That's not a bad thing, though - TRB were the best band of the punk era, and watching Robinson rip through "Bully For You" and "2 4 6 8 Motorway" it's clear he's as good now as he was then, if not better. Adam Phillips, who has been a constant feature of these gigs for some time, is always good, but last night he was phenomenal. Versatile, soulful and with a perfect command of tone, you could put his guitar playing up against Danny Kustow's and he would not suffer by comparison. As for Tom Robinson himself - he was exceptional. I've seen less-energetic performances from musicians a third of his age. After a blistering run through the songs everyone knew, the second set was reserved for fan favourites - so much so, in fact, that I only knew two of the songs he played (and I normally know them all). It was softer than the previous set, mostly acoustic and with Lee Griffiths providing excellent backing vocals. Robinson finished the second set with a rousing rendition of "One Law for the Rich" that got the entire crowd singing along, despite its relative obscurity. The encore consisted of "Martin" (of course) and "Never Gonna Fall In Love (Again)", both excellent songs, performed fantastically.

Best Boy Grip, last night's support band, play the kind of faux-emotional "I'm being sensitive please fuck me" singer-songwriter pap you'll hear at any open mic night anywhere on the planet. Fortunately, they're energetic and they've got more chops than a butcher's window, which made their set enjoyable. Still, they need to add some balls to their songs - we've already had one Scouting for Girls, we don;t want another.