In recent weeks, many Jews living in the West – Ireland, the UK, the US – have expressed concerns for their personal safety. Attacks on Jews in the West have risen sharply as the murderous cruelty continues in Gaza.
Those of us who are Irish will identify with their feelings. During the Troubles (and before), having an Irish accent could land you in difficulty or even jail in England. People in Britain thought along the Irish=IRA=blood-crazed savages line. The sins of Israelis in Gaza are easily transferred to Jews in Dublin or Detroit or Devon.
This is clearly unjust: you can’t pin the blame for the actions of others on any non-involved individual or group. At the same time, we need to be careful not to send the baby flying out with the bathwater. It is only natural that Jewish people living outside Israel should take a particular interest in or identify with Israel, even when it does terrible things. In the period 1967-73, more than 31,000 American Jews went to live in Israel. Ireland is proud of and has on occasion made use of the Irish diaspora. Likewise the state of Israel and Jews around the world.
To say this is enough for some people to brand you anti-Semitic – I’ve already encountered this. But while there are many courageous Jews who have expressed their horror at the killing continuing today in Gaza, there is undoubtedly a large section of the Jewish diaspora who see Israel as conducting a war simply to protect itself.
Those of us who are more detached from the present horror may see a historical pattern to events in the Middle East, and the reasons for US support. When white people arrived in what would become the United States, they forcibly removed from their land the indigenous people, taught them to feel contempt for their culture and murdered them when given the opportunity. Remember the old cowboy movies where John Wayne or his like could say ‘The only good Injun is a dead Injun!” and we would laugh and endorse his sentiment? The Aborigines of Australia had their lands seized and their culture broken and replaced by that of white people. The Maoris of New Zealand had a similar experience. The British Empire, starting with Ireland, provided the model: kill or confine the natives, treat them as an inferior species.
That’s what’s happening in Gaza now.
Last night, on a sodden turf at Anfield, Liverpool defeated Newcastle in an absorbing football game. When Saudi Arabia bought Newcastle, there were rumblings of discontent that a state with little concern for human rights should own an English club. If you watched the game, you’ll have seen signs everywhere in Anfield advertising Axa the insurance company. Axa is 30th among the top 100 European investors in Israel’s illegal settlers’ enterprise. Compared to Israel, Saudia Arabia sings in the heavenly choir of human rights.
Not that Axa is alone in its support of Israel. Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Starbucks and Motorola also support Israel. As do dozens of other big companies. Maybe it’s time a boycott of such companies was organised and implemented. That may not stop genocide, but at least it’ll show that not everybody accepts Israel’s right to do as it pleases.
Jude, wher would one get a list of companies/products that support the Nazionists?
Very good jude free Palestine
Thank you, James – and ditto….
The state of Illinois where I am from was, according to Swedish immigrants, a howling wilderness. This is how they see their settlement of western Illinois. Actually, it was not. The state is named after the Illini. The rivers, such as the Mississippi, and Ohio, were named by the Shawnee.
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All these communities are gone, as are the Fox, and the Saulk.
It’s called genocide.