“It’s about equality, and that’s why I can’t work with you on this.”

My short talk this week at the Quaker Annual Gathering in the UK


Extract:

Because if you say: “Zionism is nothing more and nothing less than a Jewish movement of national liberation and self-determination”, then, I can’t work with you.
Mostly because you need to read more books and talk to some different people and you need to understand what happens when your sacrosanct understanding of Jewish identity plays out as a catastrophe for another people.
If you say that Zionism is a “noble and integral part of Judaism”, then, I can’t work with you.
Mostly because you are very ignorant about Jewish history and Jewish theological understanding of exile – and this is especially problematic if you also happen to be Britain’s Chief Rabbi.
If you say boycotts in support of Palestinian rights are a form of antisemitism and/or should be illegal, then I can’t work with you.
Mostly because you don’t understand the history of political protest and you certainly don’t understand Nazi Germany boycotts of Jewish businesses in the 1930s, and because you also oppose free speech.
Or perhaps, you do understand all these things but you prefer to play politics with history for the sake of a very narrow and short sighted advantage.

Read the full post at Writing from the Edge