Green Left Statement on
Allegations of Antisemitism in the Green Party
The Jewish Chronicle has
published a piece accusing Green party candidates and the party more generally
of antisemitism. Any allegations against individual members of the party should
be made through the party’s complaint process, so they can be investigated and
decisions on any disciplinary actions taken on the basis of the investigation.
On the more general
accusations against the Green Party, which
mainly amount to accusations of failure by the Party to adopt the International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, there
are legitimate reasons why the Party has taken this course.
Thirty Jewish organisations in a dozen countries
have issued a Global Jewish Statement,
which urges ‘our governments, municipalities, universities and other
institutions to reject the IHRA definition’.
They argue, the text is intentionally worded to
suppress legitimate criticisms of Israel. It ‘undermines both the Palestinian
struggle for freedom, justice and equality and the global struggle against
antisemitism’.
Numerous BAME groups and Palestinians have
denounced the IHRA document on several grounds. In
particular, it suppresses the Palestinians’ own narrative of being dispossessed
by a racist colonisation project.
The well-known phrase ‘apartheid Israel’ has been
targeted as antisemitic according to his IHRA example: ‘Denying the
Jewish people their right to self-determination.’ This would apply
to the entire campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) for example;
according to its 2005 Palestinian call, BDS will continue until
Israel ends its apartheid, settler-colonial regime.
This is the intention of
the IHRA definition, to conflate legitimate criticism of the actions
of the Israeli state with antisemitism generally. It is for this reason that
Green Left will continue to oppose the Green party adopting this inaccurate
definition.
Green Left is in total opposition to all
manifestations of racism / antisemitism wherever they arise in society, and will not be
deflected from that stance. False allegations can themselves be counter-productive to the task of
combating racism, anti-semitism and the rise of the right.
Contact:
UKgreenleft@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment