Saturday 19 March 2016

Young liberal Zionists, if you're serious about peace, let go and move on


Fear, intimidation, distress and discomfort. That's the lexicon of life for young liberal Zionists in Britain today.

The pro-peace, anti-occupation, two-state supporting Jews are certainly having a rough time of it.

So why aren't I more sympathetic?

After all, doesn't the fact that moderate well-meaning Jewish supporters of Israel are under attack, point to what really lies behind all of this hostility? Old fashioned, straight forward, anti-Semitism. And isn't it the political left that's stoking all the trouble this time around?

While I've no doubt that anti-Semitism exists in the Labour Party (and across the political spectrum for that matter) there's a whole lot more to it than that. Something else is at play here.

What we're witnessing is an uncomfortable reckoning for young diaspora Jews who are unable to see or accept what has happened to Jews, Judaism and Jewish identity over the last 100 years.

Before I say more, let me recap some recent events to give you a flavour of what's been happening.