Martin Bright

Israel, radical Islam and the EDL

I realise the title of this post looks like an open invitation to every lunatic conspiracy theorist on the web. But I’m afraid there’s no avoiding this. Israel and the radical right (be that of the Islamic variety or the most traditional sort) are taking up a lot of my thinking time at the moment.

Anyone who cares about these issues should look up two stories in this week’s Jewish Chronicle. The first contains the news that one of the most senior figures in the British Jewish community has said that diaspora Jews should be free to criticise Israel.

Mick Davis is not a particularly well known figure outside the Jewish community, but as the chair of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) and the Jewish Leadership Council, what he has said comes close to an official breach of a Zionist taboo, which says that Jews who have chosen to live outside the state of Israel do not have the right to take issue with the tough decisions made by those on the front line. 

At a discussion event last weekend with American journalist  Peter Beinart, Mr Davis described Israel’s new loyalty oath for non-Jewish immigrants as “repugnant”. However, it is his comments about the effect of Israeli policy on the diaspora which will have the most lasting resonance. “I think the government of Israel … have to recognise that their actions directly impact me as a Jew living in London, the UK,” he said. “When they do good things it is good for me, when they do bad things, it’s bad for me. And the impact on me is as significant as it is on Jews living in Israel.”  

The second story concerns the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, whose editor Nick Lowles has made the courageous decision to throw his weight behind the fight against Islamic extremism.

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