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BY ZAIN ESSEGHAIER

GUEST OPINION

In his article (Are the Democrats becoming the D in BDS, The Guardian, Dec. 24), Henry Srebrnik persists on conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions). Srebrnik argues that anti-Semitism can be found in both right-wing and left-wing politics. His explanation fails to tell the whole story.

As proposed by Stephen Sedley, visiting professor at Oxford and former judge of appeal of England and Wales, anti-Semitism can be defined as “hostility towards Jews as Jews.” On the other hand, a Zionist is someone who supports the establishment of a Jewish State in the land of Palestine. However, and as Neve Gordon, professor of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University, writes, “Zionism has numerous traits that are in no way embedded in or characteristic of Jewishness, but rather emerged from nationalist and settler colonial ideologies.”

It is a fact that anti-Semitism is alive and well across the world. Like other forms of racism and Islamophobia, it should be condemned and opposed. However, criticism of the State of Israel and its horrible policies towards the Palestinians should not be muzzled through false accusations of anti-Semitism with the purpose of suppressing free speech and legitimate criticism of Israel.

Recently, 36 Israeli scholars wrote that “Zionism, like all other modern Jewish movements in the 20th century, was harshly opposed by many Jews, as well as by non-Jews who were not anti-Semitic. Many victims of the Holocaust opposed Zionism. On the other hand, many anti-Semites supported Zionism. It is nonsensical and inappropriate to identify anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.” The fight “against anti-Semitism should not be instrumentalized to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel’s occupation and severe violations of Palestinian human rights.”

As to BDS, it is the non-violent resistance movement led by the Palestinians to put pressure on Israel, a state that continuously runs afoul of international law and gets away with it. BDS is supported by a number of Jewish and non-Jewish groups the world over, and by prominent and emblematic figures such as Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Tutu of South Africa. The BDS movement calls for the end of Israeli occupation and colonization, the recognition of fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as stipulated in the UN resolution 194. These are hardly anti-Semitic demands.

It is entirely legitimate to oppose, critique, and condemn the State of Israel for the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land to create Jewish settlements; the institutionalized racism and discrimination against Palestinians who are Israeli citizens (a form of apartheid); the collective punishment of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes and orchards; the official Israeli government ideological policy that claims the whole land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river belongs to Israel; the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians; the destruction of Palestinian villages; the killing of dozens and the injuring of hundreds of mainly peaceful Palestinian protestors, and so on and so forth.

The famous Israeli pianist and conductor, and peace activist Daniel Barenboim asks, “Is there any sense in independence for one (people) at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other? Can the Jewish people, whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighbouring people?”

Unfortunately, never once does Srebrnik address the plight of the Palestinians and the violation of their human rights by the State of Israel. And that is an important part of the story.

- Zain Esseghaier, Charlottetown, is a member of the Muslim Society of P.E.I. and a faculty member at UPEI