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Peake's statement was ill-judged & the specific claim she made untrue. Equally, this tendency to assume worst when anyone makes an error is problematic. Israel isn't just the world's 'only majority jewish state'. Its also the site of the world's longest running occupation (1/)
2. Israel is still practising settler colonialism. The state sponsors jewish people to move into Palestinian lands in order to expand its territory. That's not unique - one could say same about China in Tibet - but it separates Israel from the UK or France (2/)
Moreover - 3. Israel's constitutional settlement means a specific task of the police and military is to manage the sustained suppression of a racialised and subjugated group (3/)
Does any of this justify sharing an un-evidenced claim in a national newspaper? No. But there is a reason that movements for black liberation in the US have identified in particular with Palestinians and its not that they are oppressed by 'a majority jewish state' (4/)
In reality - it's the same reason that they identified their struggle with black South Africans - because they saw in that state an extreme example of racial subjugation, which could therefore be used as a testing ground for strategies of suppression in the imperial core (5/)
The connections bore fruit - by drawing links between geographically distanced but politically linked oppressions, bonds of solidarity were formed which strengthened liberation struggles in both countries, and contributed to the fall of apartheid (6/)
Thus - there is a reason that the ruling classes in Israel and the US want to weaken connections between the cause of racial justice in the US and Israel/Palestine. It's because it might succeed! (7/)
In conclusion:
Should we be careful about sticking to facts when speaking to national newspapers or sharing articles? Yes (8/)
Should we be careful about sticking to facts when speaking to national newspapers or sharing articles? Yes (8/)
But - to raise cost of discussing the connections between racism in the US and Israel/Palestine so that any error is seen as a sign of antisemitism is to help the forces of oppression in both states (END)
