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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why the Corbynite left is so obsessed with Palestine?

278 replies

Antigony · 26/02/2019 17:29

To be clear - I don't agree with everything the Israeli government is doing.

But there are vast numbers of governments around the world who are doing terrible things. There's the Chinese government's treatment of the Uighur Muslims, the Australian government's offshore internment of asylum seekers for years driving some to suicide, the Saudi Arabian government's warmongering and bombing in Yemen, Maduro in Venezuela stopping food aid from reaching his starving people, the Iranian government hanging gay people etc.

Why have so many people on the British left seized on and fetishised this one injustice? Why do they all put Palestinian flags in their twitter bios and jump on every opportunity to criticise Israel, but don't do the same for these other countries?

OP posts:
Gushpanka · 27/02/2019 20:11

Opposing Israel's very right to exist does as per the definition of anti-Semitism

PowerShower · 27/02/2019 20:15

Israeli government just cannot get rid of Palestinians fast enough.
What is the word for those who hate Palestinians?

time.com/5536862/israel-netanyahu-jewish-power-criticism/

PowerShower · 27/02/2019 20:16

What is the word for opposing the right for Palestinians to exist?

stairway · 27/02/2019 20:20

From the video Corbyn is talking about bbc bias. If reporters only talk about the needs and rights of Israel then it’s biased.

PowerShower · 27/02/2019 20:24

Hmmm, looking at the first point of working definition of anto-semitism, which rightly says is the following:

Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

Yet, take the word jews out and replace with palestinian and this is exactly what Netanyahu is moving towards with his coalition attempt with Jewish Power party. It is a party who call for and justify killing or harming of Palestinians in the name of radical ideology or extremist view of religion.

PowerShower · 27/02/2019 20:32

Lets have a look at another definition point for anti-semitism:

Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

Quite right, I would agree....yet....

Netanyahu has no problem bulldozing Palestinian homes if israel suspects one member of the family to have committed a wrong-doing. Also known as collective punishment. So the whole family is held responsible and punished.

Gushpanka · 27/02/2019 20:36

So you're justifying anti semitism because netanyahu is racist?
Another poster (preumably Corbynite) exemplifying the issue.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 27/02/2019 20:37

The mental gymnastics being used on this thread to rationalise antisemitism is mind-boggling ... unsurprising of course, but mind-boggling all the same (and that's from someone who's widely criticised some of Israel's policies)

We see the same with the now-suspended Chris Williamson, who was caught suggesting that Labour has been too apologetic over the issue, and now claims with a straight face that "Our movement can never be 'too apologetic' about racism within our ranks"

Utterly disingenuous, all of it

BertrandRussell · 27/02/2019 20:42

“Opposing Israel's very right to exist does as per the definition of anti-Semitism”

But saying that the BBC is biased in favour of Israel isn’t.

BertrandRussell · 27/02/2019 20:47

“The mental gymnastics being used on this thread to rationalise antisemitism is mind-boggling”

Hmm. The mental gymnastics being used to categotise any criticism of the state of Israel anti Semitic is pretty mind boggling too.

Imperfectsusan · 27/02/2019 20:50

Kissing, don't be rude. Even if I read up on it, I may interpret it differently. That happens often in a group of intelligent people. You could read up on that; it may be illuminating.

KissingInTheRain · 27/02/2019 20:56

I haven’t seen anyone suggest that criticism of the Israeli government is itself anti-Semitic.

What posters are saying is (a) that the obsession that the far left in this country has with Israel is troubling (as per the thread title), and (b) that the terms in which opposition to Israel and Israeli policy by some Corbynites is expressed is anti-Semitic. (That leaves aside the straightforward anti-Semitic, non-Israeli-related bile that some on both the far right and Corbynite fringes of politics come out with.)

BertrandRussell · 27/02/2019 20:58

“ haven’t seen anyone suggest that criticism of the Israeli government is itself anti-Semitic.”

Haven’t you? That’s interesting.

Imperfectsusan · 27/02/2019 21:01

Bertrand, this shrill outrage and vitriol against anyone who criticises Israel has been going on decades.

I am not even in the Labour Party, and I think Israel has behaved brutally. Call me anti Semitic, why don't you?

I'm not, and never will be, but hey ho.

PowerShower · 27/02/2019 21:01

Gushpanka, Where in my post did I justify anti semitism? I have highlighted the double standards and hypocrisy adopted by Israel PM.

Here, I shall paste it again.

Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

Yet, take the word jews out and replace with palestinian and this is exactly what Netanyahu is moving towards with his coalition attempt with Jewish Power party. It is a party who call for and justify killing or harming of Palestinians in the name of radical ideology or extremist view of religion.

This new best friend of Netanyahu calls for the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their own homes, ie: occupied territories.

KissingInTheRain · 27/02/2019 21:02

Why?

I’m happy to be proved wrong, but I don’t recall that, and TBH I can’t be arsed to re-walk the whole thread.

MillytantForceit · 27/02/2019 21:09

It is odd, especially if you are old enough to remember the days of Golda Meir, Abba Eban, Yitzakh Rabin and other great Israeli socialists.

To take the example of China with a million plus Ouighas in 're-education' camps, the Sudanese war criminal still in office, The Burmese genocide, the silence is bloody deafening. Let's all have a go at Israel.

And no one who does criticise China ever suggests there should not be a China because it all belongs to Taiwan.

Imperfectsusan · 27/02/2019 21:10

I suspect it is patently clear to anyone really that the aim of the clamour is to discredit Corbyn. Whether you agree with him or not, it's a disingenuous ruse.

PierreBezukov · 27/02/2019 21:19

You are perfectly right OP. The far left is racist and anti-semitic. This drives their visceral hatred of and obsession with Israel.

KissingInTheRain · 27/02/2019 21:22

Imperfect

Again, are you suggesting that the Corbyn Labour anti-Semitism issue is all manufactured?

Imperfectsusan · 27/02/2019 21:23

Well, racism has certainly come out of woodwork in society these days in a lot of places, including in organised politics, sadly . But if I went looking for it I wouldn't start with the Labour Party.

Imperfectsusan · 27/02/2019 21:25

I think a lot of it is, yes. It's a lever to get him out. I'm not so keen on his leadership skills myself, but that's what I think.

Gushpanka · 27/02/2019 21:28

You dont need to look for it in the labour party since it's on show for all to see. Ask Luciana Berger.

proton · 27/02/2019 21:28

Plenty of far left Corbyn lovers here spouting the predictable 'the antisemitism is made up by jews to bring down Corbyn' BANG on q. You couldn't make this stuff up. Just proving the OP is spot on. Nice one 🤣

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