Friday, February 11, 2005
Anti-semitic attacks 'at record level' posted by Richard Seymour
You can't accuse The Independent of being slow to report the news. This report , however, seems remarkably similar to one carried in The Observer about three weeks ago. I would place a caveat on swallowing the item whole, because of the way the data is presented and because of the source (the Community Security Trust is an outfit affiliated to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a Zionist organisation with an agenda of supporting Israel). See Jews Sans Frontieres for more. Michael Whine, a CST spokesman, told The Observer that:'The continued demonisation of Israel has meant the shock-horror aspect of anti-semitism in Britain has reduced over time.'
Bullshit. The 'demonisation' of one of the world's most militarily powerful states with an atrocious human rights records could only contribute to increased anti-Semitism if someone was going around claiming that Israel represents the Jews, speaks for them, acts on their behalf and is effectively their voice in the world. Who would be so odious and ridiculous as to do such a thing?
That aside, there is without doubt a serious threat that the resurgence of the far right is going to lead to - has led to - increasing acceptance of racism, and therefore of racist assaults - against Jews, Muslims and non-Whites. The response to this should be universalist and not particularist, especially since in countries where the far right has succeeded in returning to the mainstream attacks on Muslims and Jews have increased concurrently. Which is to say, instead of taking the abuse, physical or otherwise, of British Jews as an opportunity to defend the indefensible, how about calling for an alliance of anti-racists from all 'communities' (apologies for that greasy word, but my mental thesaurus is down this morning) to oppose it?