The Darkness Closes In On British Academia

It's clear that the universities have become a major battleground, and one where Israel is losing the battle for hearts and minds. There are several factors in all this: the fact that since 1967 Israel has been portrayed increasingly as an imperialist aggressor by the left, and this has accelerated with the end of South African apartheid, so that Israel is now the main victim of the left's wrath; the fact that generations growing up since 1967 have been constantly assailed by this propaganda from the disgraceful BBC and other media outlets, especially those organs of "intellectual opinion", the Guardian and the Independent; the increasing presence on campus of Muslim students; the rantings of anti-Israel yordim anbd similarly-minded academics on campus ...
The willingness of university authorities to appease these groups must be fought. VCs and MPs must be lobbied. The aid of the police must be sought if necessary. Disinviting or withdrawing speakers, as has been done over the last fortnight, just feeds the enemy!!!

The words "sew" and "reap" come to mind here.

Ha! Blameeng zee veecteem, n'est-pas, mon cheri?

I don't think the Israelis can claim victimhood on this one, Yvetta.

I think the major problem is only in that some British universities and some newspapers are critical of Israeli state policies, again, as i continually reiterate this does not amount to 'bigotry and blind hatred for Israel... and therefore for all Jews'.

This criticism is not directed against all Jews, its about criticism of Israeli policies, as Marc Eliis has pointed out in his book by the same title, 'Judaism does not equal Israel'.

Ellis argues that the Holocaust has had a profound affect on Jewish identity, upon this i am sure we will all agree. For Ellis, Post-Holocaust Judaism has effaced thousands of years of Jewish identity, he states for now

'majority of Jews today have very little in their lives of ritual or rules, for far more Jews self-identification with Israel is more important than religious observance'.

Elis argues that the identification of Judaism with the state of Israel is a modern one, whereas the history of Judaism goes back five thousand years, this modern association of Judaism with Israel has led to criticism of Israeli policies being wrongly labelled as 'anti-semitic'. Ellis also poses the question of whether the state of Israel has replaced God in this sense for many Jews, clearly not everyone will agree with this, but i thought it was an interesting book, looking at the impact of the Holocaust on Jewish identity

Any thoughts on this anyone?

Some people like to conflate anti-Israel activities with anti-semitism because that way they have a chance of mobilising Jewish support to their agenda. Not all Jews are Zionists, and not all Zionists feel the need to genuflect when Israel says or does something. In fact, only a minority of them do.

The word 'conflate' is always used by those who refuse to accept the EUMC Definitiion of Antisemitism.

It is a cliché and in this context is completely meaningless.

The word conflate is used by those who refuse to accept that Israel is synonymous with Jews or Judaism, don't genuflect when Israel does or says something and do not take their orders from Danny Ayalon or Yvet Lieberman. But apart from that the EUMC Working Definition is just that, a cliche accepted by no one except those who conflate anti-Israel actions with anti-Semitism. Those who do the conflating do so because of their desire to spread fear because that is the only way can mobilise Jewish support to their agenda. They are the ones doing the conflating.

Jonathan,

First they will stop the Israelis speaking, then they will stop the Jews, then the Hindus, then the Sikhs...

And the fools who run our universities will smile and cheer them on.

Until they stop the Catholics from speaking, but by then, it will be too late.

There is either free speech on campuses for everyone, or everyone is ultimately threatened.