The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has amended its statement of purpose expressly to include a denunciation of Holocaust denial.
The statement on the PSC's website now reads: "Any expression of racism or intolerance, or attempts to deny or minimise the Holocaust have no place in our movement." Its national organiser, Martial Kurtz, said the move echoed the PSC's assertion "that ours is an anti-racist campaign."
The PSC has come under increasing pressure over views held by some members of its branches. Some have been accused of Holocaust denial and promoting Jewish conspiracy narratives.
The move has been welcomed by Jewish anti-Zionists such as Tony Greenstein, who wrote on his blog: "Four years ago, we tried unsuccessfully to persuade PSC AGM to pass a motion dissociating itself from… those at the fringe of the movement who were dabbling in the politics of Holocaust denial."
Anthony Cooper, who has been researching the background of many local PSC groups, said he had pointed out numerous Holocaust denial websites and videos, linked to by PSC members, and other antisemitic material, which had since been removed.
He said: "A number of the websites appear to have been altered after I posted about them. Part of the site of one branch used to read 'we must emphasise that PSC, like Arafat, accepts the inevitable presence of the Israelis and that pushing them all in to the Mediterranean is now not an option.' That has been changed to 'is not now, nor has it ever been, an option.'"
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