Israel Shamir is an anti-Semite, not an anti-Zionist. posted by Richard Seymour

I first heard of Israel Shamir through an acquaintance who had read something of his on the internet. He was, so I was told, a compelling critic of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. A good number of people who are generally on the left and don't harbour any racist animus against Jews also believe he is a reputable defender of the Palestinians, a humanist anti-Zionist and so on. He is purported to be a Russian-Israeli who has turned against what he describes as 'Jewish supremacism'.

He is not. Israel Shamir is a Swedish neo-Nazi whose criticisms of Israel are rooted in the thesis that it is the Jewish religion that is behind Israel's crimes. His new name, for anyone who insists on quoting his recent work, is Joran Jermas.


Jermas associates himself with several anti-Semitic publications. The first of the anti-Semitic publications he writes for and links to on his website is a filthy Christian anti-Semitic journal called 'the Jewish Tribal Review' (the 'tribe' again) and the second is Overthrow.com (published by White Politics Inc.).

There is a very good summary of the background info here . In particular, see the letter written by Ali Abuminah and Hussein Ibish. Abuminah is a media critic for Electronic Intifada , a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and opponent of anti-Arab racism. But he is not taken in by Jermas.

To put it as mildly as I possibly can, anyone who thinks that 'Israel Shamir' is a defender of the Palestinians and a sensible critic of Zionism needs to urgently reconsider.