COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN SPUTNIK
Almost Third of
British Jews Consider Leaving UK Amid Rising Anti-Semitism
This poll is just a tool to be used to support more
repressive pro-Israel policies in the UK.
First, it is always very iffy classifying behaviors or words
as "anti-Semitic."
It often comes down to an arbitrary decision.
Second, with Jeremy Corbyn's taking the Labour Party leadership,
Britain suffered through months of McCarthyite attacks over imaginary
anti-Semitism. It much resembled the old drunken American Senator, Joseph
McCarthy, waving a fistful of sheets of paper while bellowing about how they
contained the names of communists in the government.
No proof was offered against associates of Corbyn, just loud
accusations day after day, and they were self-serving accusations because
certain leaders inside and outside the party just wanted to have things their
own way.
Well, with all that noise for months, who would be surprised
if there were increased fears of anti-Semitism among some in Britain? It is a
self-created phenomenon; just as local news reports of murder or rape
invariably engender fears unwarranted among some listeners.
Third, lots of people think about leaving where they live,
year-in and year-out. It proves nothing, and since we do not know the measure
of this ordinary fact, we have nothing with which to compare these results.
Fourth, threats of this nature – and it is a threat to say a
substantial portion of any people want to leave if changes are not made by
government – are not healthy for any society.
Fifth, one might ask those polled just where it is that they
think they would go. To Israel? A place of immense stresses and threats and
unhappiness? I don’t think so. Britain remains a quite peaceful society when
compared with many alternatives.
Last, if it is indeed true that there is some genuine
increase in prevailing anti-Semitism, and I do not accept that as a
demonstrated fact, but if it were true, the fact is that it would have a very
great deal to do with the constant ugly activities of Israel.
The oppression, the killings, the stealing of property, the
hideous treatment of Gaza, and on and on. These are never out of our news
because they are in fact continuous. How about some feedback to Israel about
its completely unacceptable behavior, which is nothing less than barbaric?
But, no, what is actually being sought are more limits on
the freedoms of a relative free country like Britain. We in many Western
countries have experienced such efforts, as with the recent intense lobbying
effort in America to make support of BDF illegal with severe penalties.
