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Peake& #39;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& #39;t just the world& #39;s & #39;only majority jewish state& #39;. Its also the site of the world& #39;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& #39;s not unique - one could say same about China in Tibet - but it separates Israel from the UK or France (2/)
Moreover - 3. Israel& #39;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 & #39;a majority jewish state& #39; (4/)
In reality - it& #39;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& #39;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)
