The fight against anti-Semitism is first and foremost an anti-racist
necessity but it also strengthens the fight for solidarity with thePalestinians. Breaking out of positions, obtaining the broadest
mobilization, rediscovering an internationalist reading: without these
objectives in mind, we will remain at an impasse. Two friends from UCL
offer their analysis. ---- As the situation worsens every day in Gaza
and anti-Semitic acts are on an alarming rise around the world, we are
faced with a double bind.
On the right, solidarity with the Palestinians is disqualified by being
lumped in with anti-Semitism. However, nothing can justify the ongoing
colonial oppression and massacre of civilians. In an increasingly large
part of the left, the fight against anti-Semitism is disqualified by
being associated with support for the ongoing massacre, and the
discourse on exploitation becomes a pretext for not waging it. Nothing
can justify such abandonment of the anti-racist fight.
Thus, on March 3, a conference took place "Against anti-Semitism, its
exploitation and for revolutionary peace in Palestine" in which most
left-wing and Palestine support organizations took part, including the
UCL. The question of anti-Semitism, however, was almost never addressed
for its own sake, but mainly raised to denounce its "instrumentalization".
October 7: an anti-Semitic attack
Judith Butler, the key guest, declared, while specifying that they "did
not like it" (sic), that the October 7 offensive is "not an anti-Semitic
attack" but "an act of armed resistance. The idea that the very real
situation of domination that the Palestinian people have suffered for
decades by Israel would neutralize the anti-Semitic character of the
attack is an erroneous idea. The two aspects are not exclusive. This is
a military operation planned by a quasi-state actor, Hamas. The fact
that the Palestinian national movement is currently dominated by this
far-right force should not lead to confusing the assertion of the
legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle, including armed resistance, with
the way in which Hamas directs it. The openly anti-Semitic and
conspiratorial statements of the Hamas leadership are numerous and
documented. To deny them is simply to deny reality.
It is possible, without making the colonial context invisible, to
qualify October 7 as an anti-Semitic attack, and to distinguish between
armed actions against soldiers or armed settlers in the West Bank and
attacks or massacres targeting civilians. It is about stopping
conflating the Palestinian movement with its current leadership.
Attempting to silence the discussion of anti-Semitism by equating it
with support for colonization only reinforces reactionary tendencies.
Already in the 2000s, this dynamic was a catastrophe for Jews and for
the Palestinian cause in France.
Instrumentalization exists in all social struggles. The fight against
anti-Semitism is no exception, but making this instrumentalization the
central axis of the discourse, without dealing with anti-Semitism as an
object of struggle in its own right and a legitimate political subject
in itself, prevents any take-up. into real consideration of the question.
Comparisons with Algeria
It is necessary to criticize Zionism for its colonial dimension and to
vigorously oppose the ongoing massacre. But if we want to build a real
political solution, we cannot get rid of the persecutions which led
hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors to consider Israel as a
refuge, and more than 800,000 Jews from Africa from the North and the
Middle East to get there. This is why the Israeli national fact cannot
disappear by force. Comparisons with Algeria hinder the understanding of
an essential thing: there is no metropolis to which to return, the
countries of origin being, to a greater or lesser degree, places of
centuries-old persecution of Jews in minority situation.
If the diasporist option is the one we defend, building among Jews a
desirable alternative to Zionism, it is certainly not to reinforce their
persecution in the diaspora by asking them to show their credentials
under the pretext of anti-Zionism, but to build a real fight against
anti-Semitism here. The current atmosphere accentuates community
withdrawal and increases settlement projects in Israel.
Hunting the Zionists
It must be remembered that all the criticisms which make Zionism an
explanation of the world's misfortunes are part of a conspiratorial
imagination: that of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The
denunciation of the crimes of the Israeli state should be done with the
same analytical framework as for other states and not by drawing on a
racist imagination. Conspiracy anti-Zionism was born on the far right,
was taken up in part by Stalinist Zionology, and today extends its
influence far beyond its sphere of fascist origin. He succeeded in
imposing his categories instead of opposition to Zionism on progressive
bases. Letting this cultural hegemony take hold in our movements will
bring neither peace, nor justice, nor revolution, and certainly not the
"revolutionary peace" claimed by those who minimize the anti-Semitic
nature of the October 7 massacre.
Faced with the massacre taking place, the priority objective should be
an unconditional and immediate ceasefire. We must first aim to obtain
the broadest mobilization. However, rather than seeking to broaden a
base of support for this objective within Israeli society, but also
among Jews, and among the entire population at the international level,
which would imply not making any anti-Zionism a prerequisite for
gathering, we find ourselves with collectives which promote the idea
that we should focus on a hunt for real or imaginary Zionists. Under
this pretext, they fight against all those who do not fully align with
the demands of Hamas. Such a choice amounts to restricting the movement
in support of the ceasefire, rather than pushing contradictions within
Israeli society and strengthening the camp of opposition to war and
colonization within the Jewish minority. in the diaspora. This is a
logic of posture that is completely out of step with the urgency of the
situation.
Vigorously combating anti-Semitism, wherever it comes from and wherever
it is expressed, is not a luxury but a strategic issue, both for
anti-racism and for the Palestinian question.
Sam (UCL Lyon) and Manu (UCL PNE)
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Debat-Sortir-des-postures-pour-elargir-le-soutien-a-la-Palestine
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