Jackie Walker is a Jewish Black British woman married to a Jewish man, she has experienced herself racism mostly for being a black woman involved in politics. She says that in her experience the Labour party has a more intolerable attitude to black people than to the Jewish community,however that is her point of view and shouldn't be used to belittle anybodies experience of racism or xenophobia, as emotional hurt effects everyone differently, and we should all condemn all sorts of hate crime. The point about Ms Walkers case that worries me is that political ideas can hide behind a front of religious sensitivity that does not allow any scrutiny or room for debate. We need to remember that Zionism is first and foremost a political project, and all citizens in the world have the right to question and challenge if need be any political ideas if they are not conducive to life. Too often Zionism and Judaism are confused and conflated. This inevitably results with cases like this where people are wrongly accused of antisemitism for the compassionate act of raising awareness of the suffering of different groups. I am not Jewish myself but am aware of huge numbers of Jewish and Israeli people questioning the activities of the Israeli government.We need to remember that it is honorable to recognize the suffering of the Palestinian people and to question the impact of Israeli politics on the world. Indeed we should hold all governments to account if there actions are at the detriment to life.As the quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson asks, "If what your country is doing seems to you practically and morally wrong, is dissent the highest form of patriotism?" do we not all have the right to question and challenge acts of violence whenever and wherever we see it?
The Editors
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