2 min read
Some of the calmest Jews of my acquaintance are having a decidedly anxious moment. Several times in the past month, I've been approached by someone or other expressing the sentiment that the indicative vote in Parliament to recognise Palestine was a terrible, terrible thing and that Ed Miliband and others have - by supporting it - proved themselves to be viscerally anti-Israeli.
During and after the Gaza crisis, with its huge and massively well-documented loss of Palestinian life, and then the subsequent upswing in low-level antisemitism, it was natural enough for people to become a bit paranoid. There was even a little talk about a land unsafe for Jews. Now, seeing what happened in Parliament last month, worried folk are interpreting virtually everything as a sign that, if there is a powerful lobby in Britain, it is the Muslim one, which threatens to use its more substantial voting power against parties seen as being too pro-Israel.
There is a small amount of truth in this in some constituencies. But the overwhelming reason for the pro-Palestine vote a few weeks ago was simple desperation. To put it bluntly, many MPs and other opinion-formers no longer believe that the Israeli government (and thus, by extension, the people who voted for it) are serious about peace.
"We believe in the two-state solution," they were saying in effect, "but we don't think Netanyahu, let alone Lieberman and Bennett, do."
You could see this sentiment at work in the decision this week of the Swedish government to recognise a Palestinian state. As the new Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, had previously promised his voters, the Swedish Foreign Ministry made the announcement on Thursday in the context of a desire for "peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine".
The position that such a recognition is meaningless because it pre-empts future on-the-ground negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, has lost its hold on people who see -year after year - no such negotiations taking place, and observe no very great enthusiasm for them on the Israeli side. In this situation, making a political statement seems to be almost the only thing you can do. France may well follow suit in the few weeks.
This next sentence was the reaction to the Swedish decision by the current Israeli Foreign Minister. "The Swedish government must understand," mocked Mr Lieberman, "that relations in the Middle East are more complex than one of Ikea's flat-pack pieces of furniture, and would do well to act with greater sensitivity and responsibility".
It is hard to describe the idiocy of such a needlessly insulting and arrogant piece of anti-diplomacy. What Swede would change their unfavourable opinion based on a jibe like that?
Frankly, if I had been an MP, I would have been tempted to vote for recognition myself. At least it would have been a vote for the two-state solution. One wonders how long it will stay that way. My fear is that another Gaza will mean that the appetite even for this solution will soon disappear.
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