by Caroline Glick
In an interview with Haaretz in November 2010, British novelist Martin Amis said the following about discussions of Israel in his motherland:
After participating last week in a debate in London about Israeli communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines organized by the self-consciously pretentious Intelligence Squared debating society, I can now say from personal experience that Amis is correct. The public atmosphere in England regarding Israel is ugly and violent.I live in a mildly anti-Semitic country, and Europe is mildly anti-Semitic, and they hold Israel to a higher moral standard than its neighbors. If you bring up Israel in a public meeting in England, the whole atmosphere changes. The standard left-wing person never feels more comfortable than when attacking Israel. Because they are the only foreigners you can attack. Everyone else is protected by having dark skin, or colonial history, or something. But you can attack Israel. And the atmosphere becomes very unpleasant. It is traditional, snobbish, British anti-Semitism combined with present-day circumstances.
The resolution we debated read: "Israel is
destroying itself with its settlement policy. If settlement expansion
continues Israel will have no future."
My debating partner was Danny Dayan, the outgoing head of the Yesha Council.
We
debated Daniel Levy, one of the founders of J-Street and the drafter of
the Geneva Initiative, and the son of Lord Michael Levy, one of Tony
Blair's biggest fundraisers; and William Sieghart, a British
philanthropist who runs a non-profit that among other things, champions
Hamas. Levy has publicly stated that Israel's creation was immoral. And Sieghart has a past record of saying that Israel's delegitimization would be a salutary proces and calling for a complete cultural boycott of Israel while lauding Hamas.
We lost overwhelmingly. I think the final vote tally was something like 500 for the resolution and 100 against it.
A
couple of impressions I took away from the experience: First, I can say
without hesitation that I hope never to return to Britain. I actually
don't see any point. Jews are targeted by massive anti-Semitism of both
the social and physical varieties. Why would anyone Jewish want to live
there?
As to visiting as an Israeli, again, I
just don't see the point. The discourse is owned by anti-Israel voices.
They don't make arguments to spur thought, but to end it, by appealing
to people's passions.
For instance, in one
particularly ugly segment, Levy made the scurrilous accusation that
Israel systematically steals land from the Palestinians. Both Dayan and I
demanded that he provide just one example of his charge. And the
audience raged against us for our temerity at insisting that he provide
substantiation for his baseless allegation. In the event, he failed to
substantiate his allegation.
At another point, I
was asked how I defend the Nazi state of Israel. When I responded by
among other things giving the Nazi pedigree of the Palestinian
nationalist movement founded by Nazi agent Haj Amin el Husseini and
currently led by Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas, the crowd angrily
shouted me down.
I want to note that the
audience was made up of upper crust, wealthy British people, not
unwashed rabble rousers. And yet they behaved in many respects like a
mob when presented with pro-Israel positions.
I
honestly don't know whether there are policy implications that arise
from my experience in London last week. I have for a long time been of
the opinion that Israel shouldn't bother to try to win over Europe
because the Europeans have multiple reasons for always being anti-Israel
and none of them have anything to do with anything that Israel does. As
I discuss in my book, these reasons include anti-Semitism,
anti-Americanism, addiction to Arab oil, and growing Muslim populations
in Europe.
I was prepared to conduct a
civilized debate based on facts and reasoned argumentation. I expected
it to be a difficult experience. I was not expecting to be greeted by a
well-dressed mob. My pessimism about Europeans' capacity to avail
themselves to reasoned, fact-based argumentation about Israel has only
deepened from the experience.
One positive
note, I had a breakfast discussion last Wednesday morning with activists
from the Zionist Federation of Britain. The people I met are committed,
warm, hardworking Zionists. I wish them all the best, and mainly that
means, that I hope that these wonderful people and their families make
aliyah.
While their work is worthwhile, there is no future for Jews in England.
Caroline Glick
Source: http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/01/bye-bye-london.php
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
4 comments:
Thank you for trying.
My niece is anti-semitic. I told her that Bibilicly
- anyone who hates the Jewish people is an enemy of God. This is bases on Genesis 12:3
when God told Abraham that He will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.
Caroline. Thanks. It's usually a pleasure to read your articles.
But what you've written is most disturbing. As a Brit & one who travels quite frequently between both countries, I've H.H not experienced this sort of anti-semitism first hand.
However, I regularly study the Press, particularly the Telegraph. From what is ostensibly a right of centre but was traditionally pro-Israel, I've been astounded at the volume & spite of the "anti-Israel lobby". There is a fair degree of support for Israel but I suspect much of this is down to Jews from Britain living in Israel.
A sad tale- & one that's very unlikely to improve in the near future
I had a similar experience at a 'debate' in 2003 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
It reminded me of the account I have of the 1263 public disputation in Barcelona.
On the way out I got into conversation with a young man of mixed Swedish, Spanish and Prussian origins. I told him that my grandchildren live in Judea near to Ramallah, and that one of their great grandfathers was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. That he himself only survived the camps because a German officer he'd never seen before or after, brought him a bowl of soup and saved him from starvation. I asked the young man, where should this gentleman's descendants be living, if not in the land of Judea? The reply : in his home country of Germany. Otherwise it hands Hitler the posthumous victory of his Judenrein dream.
I said that Hadrian changed the name of Judea to Palestina, and that the Jews were the original Palestinians. He replied that he was not interested in two thousand years ago. He just didn't understand. He asked me rhetorically where he himself should go - since his origins were so mixed. I felt quite sorry for him and very happy to know who I am.
Hi, Caroline,
We actually met in Vancouver, Canada, where we attended one of your talks - and loved it. Your overall understanding of the situation in the Mid-East is truly amazing and you know how to put it all into understandable words!
Both my wife and I are of German non-Jewish parentage. We love the racial mix of Vancouver, but have a problem with seeing the gradual acceptance and consequenses of Muslim migration, both into Europe and Canada. We believe that the re-election of Obama spells nothing but bad news for Israel as well.
In order to support our Jewish friends we are active in a small group called 'Jewish Advocacy for the Conservative Party', in other words, we are supporters of our current government and Stephen Harper.
Tragically his support of Israel generates the least amount of browny points for himself. Especially in the part we live in.
Even our local media does not always accept our letters of support for Israel. (One of my last efforts was to point out that we do not call South Vietnam 'occupied territory', why the Westbank?)
It is very disappointing for us to hear that even those who should know better in England seem to approve of the anti-Semitic sentiments in general!
However, please continue your efforts. They are an inspiration for us!
Ziggy and Ariane Eckardt,
Burnaby BC
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