My weekly Comment Column in the daily Plymouth Herald (14.7.26), considering the recent statement of Prime Minister Burnham apologising for Starmer’s support for genocide in Gaza. Written the same day as the Church of England Synod debates and supports a report critical of Israel and accepting the existence of Palestine and the need to actively defend Palestinian Christians. The conclusion has to be – Protest Works! The constant protest, indefatigable and massive demonstrations in London and campaigning across the UK, indeed the world, has isolated and exposed the Israeli State and Zionism to a point where it is now dangerous for politicians not to oppose Israel. But Israel and the Zionist cause has a job to do for the global system of Capitalism: the maintenance of nationalism, racism (especially Islamophobia) and the logic of imperialist competition. The mass protests must be sustained and increased, especially the direct challenges to the military-industrial corporations linked to Israel. So, to London 18th July and Elbit on the 23rd – 11am, 38 Bolingbroke Way, Bristol, BS34 6FE.

The edited version below or expand the pic for the printed edit (at least something got printed!)

They say the Lord’s Prayer in Westminster. The two Houses swear to the Christian God, and to the King, whose official title is the “Supreme Governor” of the Protestant Church of England. But we do not consider opposition to Government policies and practices as opposition to Christianity.

Britain is a secular, multi-cultural country, with less than 5% of the Nation’s 68 million citizens actively attending Christian church once a month or more. One in four British Muslims worship weekly in a Mosque, and one-in-three Jews attend a synagogue weekly. Majorities everywhere do not devote their lives to  religion, and in Britain the majority are practical agnostics. 

It stands to reason that being critical of “the State”; challenging Government policies and practices, isn’t the same as challenging a religion. If we condemn the Government’s stance against asylum seekers we are not condemning Christianity, indeed we may well be invoking Christian principles. If we protest against British Imperialism and Colonialism – the exploitation and colonialism subjugating peoples and nations – we are not implicating the Christian Church, necessarily.

Yet now, there is an attempt to declare that any criticism of the Israeli State is an attack on the religion of Judaism and an offence against all Jews worldwide.  The Israeli State is presented as a special case, exempt from usual political rules. It is proposed that all Jews are Israelis, not British or American or Russian or Chilean Jews. Every Jew alive today is supposed to ascribe to the policies of the Israeli State. They do not!

So criticising the Israeli State is declared to be antisemitic – religious and political hatred of Jews. There is an attempt to criminalise any damning the destruction of the civilisation of Palestine and calling the extermination of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza genocide, alongside the illegal mass ethnic cleansing there and across the West Bank.

The creed of the Israeli State, the non-secular Apartheid politics of a country formed for a “single Race” called the Jews, to develop separately from the rest of humanity in their own interests, is documented as “Zionism”. Zionism is a political creed not a religion even if it refers to Judaism in the same way our State refers to Christianity. There are Christian Zionists, Hindu Zionists, Buddhist Zionists. 

Zionism is a political ethno-nationalist far-Right philosophy steeped in the demand for each ethnic-religious group within humanity to have its own separate “homeland”. The State of Israel represents the military-industrial and cultural centre for this racist creed. This “separate development” explains why some fascist groups in Britain are supporting Israel’s military expansionism alongside their bigoted hatred of Muslims.

Today, Nurses and Doctors and Porters working in the National Health Service in England and Wales have now been told they face the sack if they declare or show any symbols of opposition to Zionism or to the Israeli State, as if they are acting from prejudice and racial hatred. In fact, they are expressing humanist principles for the valuing and protection of all life, echoing their Hippocratic Oath. Yet now, Palestine flags, attendance at protests and even portrayals of watermelons are banned, despite trade union policies in support of Palestine.

Little wonder that the British Medical Association has voted to reject The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-semitism (2016). The IHRA has been re-interpreted by police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service, the NHS, and local authorities across Britain to proscribe criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli State or Zionism. This, despite the British State formally recognising the right of a Palestinian State to exist!

Such hypocrisy and injustice must not stand!

The overwhelming majority of governments across the world have condemned Israel’s atrocities. Spain has closed it’s embassy in Tel Aviv, the Israeli government calling the Spanish government “highly antisemitic”. Andy Burnham has declared that Starmer’s full support for Israel’s actions was wrong. He could put words to action by removing all charges against the 3,000 protesters labelled as terrorists. He could, as first act as Prime Minister, end the licences that allow the armed-drones manufactured here by the Israeli firm Elbit to be exported to Israel and used to kill civilians.

The Norwegian Football Association has donated all its income from the World Cup to Doctors Without Borders operating in Gaza, as a show of support for Palestine, The Egyptian team and fans flying the Palestinian flag. Yet these campaign statements are banned from our mainstream media. A brutal UK crackdown on our right to protest is happening right now, those standing in solidarity with Palestine bearing the brunt. We are being criminalised for daring to oppose the corrupt international war criminal, Netanyahu and his Zionist State. Throughout history, the greatest change has come from those brave enough to take to the streets. If we lose the freedom to speak out today, we lose the power to fight for anything tomorrow.

Let’s stand together to oppose Zionism and the perpetrators of genocide! Let’s defend our right to protest for Palestine, its land, its peoples and their rights. Saturday, 18th July, London and everywhere!