The distinction beteen left and right Zionism is illusory argues Asa Winstanley; the Zionist socialist project depended on dispossessing Palestinians of their land and labour and boycotting their produce

Documentary maker Eli Ungar-Sargon, aware that Palestinians are seen in the US and srael as very anti-Semitic, set out to investigate racism amongst Israelis – and found a disturbingly high level of anti-Arab feeling – and ignorance of the political options – which, unlike the ‘marginal’ anti-semitism of Palestinians, is ‘mainstream’ in Israel

The latest Basic Law bill, through which Israel incrementally builds its constitution, is, like the boycott bill, garnering many attacks from diaspora Jews, this one from Nathan Jeffay in the Jewish Forward. For Uri Avnery Kadima MK Avi Dichter’s bill goes further than any so far to ditch democracy in favour of ‘Jewishness’. Unheard by their ‘representatives’ he believes that the growing mass of young protesters herald the death-knell of the old political elite

“Butcher the Arabs” , “Death to Leftists”, “The Land of Israel for the People of Israel”, “This is the Song of Revenge”, “Burn their Villages”, “Muhammad is Dead” : the voice of Jerusalem Jews. Silently, most Israelis accept the 2-state solution

Haneen Zoabi, Knesset member from the Balad party (National Democratic Assembly) and a participant in the first Freedom Flotilla, says that by arresting Sheikh Raed Salah the British authorities have been pulled into Israel’s anti-Arab policies and Europe’s Islamophobia

Taking one sentence out of the Macpherson report on police racism does not provide a definition of anti-semitism argues Antony Lerman

Israeli outlet Ynet has reported a worrying increase in expressions of racism among Israeli schoolchildren. A teacher in central Israel reports: ““When issues of equality are discussed, the lesson immediately goes out of control. The pupils attack us, the teachers, and accuse us of being leftists and antisemites, saying that all Arab citizens of Israeli should be transferred out of the country because they want to destroy Israel”…

StandWithUs, on the openly racist end of the mainstream Jewish institutional world in the United States, has produced a new comic book hero Captain Israel to fight the demons of the present, leading among which is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, portrayed in Palestinian colours as the evil serpent so beloved by the antisemites. Cecile Shurasky of Muzzlewatch draws out the parallels with Nazi propaganda. Plus Roi Maor comments (added 19 Jan)

Max Blumenthal refers to many instances of open racism in Israeli society. Here he focuses particularly on the story of elderly Palestinian women being taken on a visit to Yad Vashem by Israeli women in the Bereaved Families Forum. They were surrounded by young Israelis who, recognising them as Arabs, abused them as ‘whores’ and ‘sluts’.

More and more people, including religious leaders, have come out against the fanatical rabbis’ fatwa calling on Israeli Jews not to let or sell property to Israeli Palestinians. But Jeremiah Haber is not happy with the assumptions that many of them make and is particularly critical of an advertisement sponsored by forty-two Jewish organizations that promote the study of Jewish religion in Israel, or are guided by it. Under the good title, “No to Racism in the Name of Judaism,” it sees the rabbinic manifesto as part of a struggle against humanistic values, and the love of humanity. But it goes on to call for love of resident strangers (“for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”) – in effect treating the Israeli Palestinians as resident aliens. Haber argues that “here in a nutshell we see the moral limitations of a Judaism informed by liberal statist Zionism”. Two more petitions against the rabbinical manifesto appeared shortly after, both originating from modern orthodox Jewish circles, one from Israel; the other from America. Haber comments on these as well.
And Lawrence Davidson in Tikkun Magazine finds the sentiment expressed by the rabbis’ ‘decree’ as “not unusual. It is, in fact, uncomfortably mainstream. This sort of discrimination is a structural part of the Israeli public and private practice…”

Uri Avnery writes about the Carmel fire: “What was revealed this week for all to see was a shocking landscape of incompetence and inability, irresponsibility and ass-covering, lack of planning and lack of foresight, lack of ‘staff work’ and lack of coordination between the various government offices. Many years of party corruption have led to a situation where at every crucial point the wrong person occupies the wrong position…”

Dozens of top municipal rabbis, their salaries paid by the state, signed a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles – a move particularly aimed against Arabs – and defended their decision with the declaration that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews. “Racism originated in the Torah,” said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. “The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended…” Prime Minister Netanyahu harshly condemned them and said such declarations were unacceptable. It will be interesting to see what he does about it…
PLUS: A late addition (posted 12 Dec): Richard Silverstein writes: “I couldn’t have made this up myself if I’d tried: the rabbis of the largely Yemenite city of Rosh Ha-Ayin, including the chief rabbi, declared a ban on hiring Arabs at stores which employ Jewish girls. I swear to you, it’s true…
And the Magnes Zionist writes of the “downhill slide of much of modern orthodox Jewry into what one may call ‘Kahanism lite’.”

Our sympathies go out to all Israelis caught up in the fierce fires raging in the Carmel hills in the north of Israel and to those firefighters from other countries, including Palestinian firefighters from the West Bank, who are tackling the blaze. It is a natural disaster that has been in the making through years of neglect. Now, racist Israeli Jews are blaming Palestinian Israelis for deliberately starting the fires… Gush Shalom comments briefly and Richard Silverstein provides a long analysis of Israeli reactions. And Aleph Benn argues that this will be the Yom Kippur War of the Fire and Rescue Service, utterly unprepared for the crisis.

This posting reproduces a number of articles on the theme of Israel as a Jewish state. Jerome Slater’s original piece ‘What’s wrong with a Jewish state?’ has elicited a passionate response, and responses by Ahmed Moor and Jeremiah Haber are reproduced here – with links to the wider comments made. The issues are central to Israel and its future and we hope this debate will contribute to some nuanced thinking on the topic.

Jonathan Cook reports on the darkening mood of Israeli Jews towards their Palestinian fellow citizens. He writes: “‘Adil Manna‘, a Palestinian historian at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, notes that, when Israel feels isolated and under threat, “it becomes much more intolerant of criticism from inside the country, from the [Palestinian] Arab minority especially. Dissent is seen as a strategic danger.” And Israel has rarely felt so isolated or perceived its international standing to be so threatened…”

Avirama Golan reports on the security checks at Ben Gurion International Airport and the humiliating treatment that Arab citizens of Israel receive: “The ethnocentric panic undermines the principle of civil equality.”

Jeremiah Haber reflects on a photo carried by the Wall Street Journal online, captioned: “A Palestinian woman whose house has been occupied by Jewish settlers argued with Israelis who came to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the mainly Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Wednesday”. He argues, as an orthodox Jew, that “The main source of Jewish hatred and bigotry against Arabs today comes from the orthodox, and especially the modern orthodox…”

Yitzhak Laor writes: “Rome’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno, who not only has a violent Fascist background (in the 1960s and ’70s) but is also responsible for making racist statements in the present, is a good example of the new European. Where did he carry out his first “purifying” visit after being elected a year and a half ago? With the Jewish community, of course. And they were glad to receive him.” [...]

Uri Avnery takes issue with Germany’s uncritical support for Israel asking: ‘While the German friendship with us is a moral imperative, does it have to include support for immoral actions?’ Real friendship, he argues, was shown by the Ethecon Foundation’s award of this year’s prize to an Israeli peace-activist – “the friendship of the Other Germany for the Other Israel”…

For 42 years we have been occupying, oppressing and stealing lands that are not ours. To be free in our land do we need to become thieving Cossacks, uprooters of trees, burners of fields and harassers of women, the elderly and the very young? “We have this land, we have it,” goes the song, but what should have been said is “We have the power, we have it, we have the money, we have it, and we are allowed, we are,” to starve an entire population, imprison it and annihilate it using air strikes, cluster bombs and white phosphorous. Because we are the lords of the land and God has chosen us to rule. For the shame of it…