My piece in today’s Guardian
Please click here to read my piece in today’s Guardian which attempts to re-frame the debate about British foreign policy. Feel free to leave any comments here on my site or on the Guardian’s site.
Many thanks to Cif editor Matt Seaton for running a piece which he must have known would be somewhat controversial.
The comment threads make for interesting reading. What do you think?
Tags: Britain, democracy, Israel
April 12th, 2010 at 11:58 am
To be read in conjunction with this piece:
The Holocaust can happen again, warns top anti-Semitism scholar
[Extract]
‘ [Robert] Wistrich believes his prediction was right. “In Britain, all the taboos that exist in polite society are long gone when it comes to Israel and the Jews,” he said, adding that anti-Semitic comments are a daily occurrence, “whether it’s at dinner tables, in academia or in the churches.” While politicians are less apt than those less in the public eye to publicly display the same kind of animosity, anti-Semitism is widespread even among political leaders, he said. “When I look at anti-Semitism in Britain, I feel it’s always been underestimated by people outside the country,” said Wistrich. “Having lived with it, I would say it is structurally almost built in to British life and culture.”
While the U.K. isn’t necessarily the worst country in Europe, Wistrich called it “one where it’s become, over a number of years now, an inhospitable climate for any self-respecting Jewish person who feels even the most minimal identification with Israel. And even if they don’t, it’s becoming an inhospitable and unpleasant environment where you have to constantly justify your identity. Britain is going through one of the most anti-Jewishly tinged periods of its history.” ‘
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1162358.html
April 12th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Very very good thought-provoking article, Robin. Especially well done for taking a swim in The Guardian’s waters.
April 12th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
It is always facianting to read the comments after one such article with some uncomfortable home truth. it seems Guardian commenters entertain the childish notion that if you shut your eyes tight enough and hope for it long enough every one is going to get along with their fellow humans and peace will pervail.
Sadly this is never the case or as the saying goes: if you seek peace prepare for war, if you are scared of war you will get war (or somthing like that).
April 13th, 2010 at 3:32 am
The vituperative comments by the usual gang of Israel bashers actually provides all the proof you need of the correctness of your opinions, Robin. Well done!
April 13th, 2010 at 7:43 am
A thought provoking article Robin. What is interesting from a number of the comments posted is the self-loathing many have for being British and for it being ” democratic”. Small wonder that so many should transfer that loathing on Israel or Jews, to disguise the shame that this feeling must carry, Israel being a soft target
I also note that Matt Seaton has tried to address the difficult issues that have been allowed to develop, by the Guardian not giving platform to those who feel that more balance on reporting about Israel is long overdue and all credit to him for recognising it. Let’s hope this continues.
April 13th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Congratulations on your Cif Guardian piece which was clearly and cogently argued.
Some of the anti-Israel comments in reply were breathtaking beyond belief however. There was the fine sprinkling of name-calling and demonization which we have come to expect (Israeli “apartheid” and “land-theft”), and some distatseful racist remarks about the “Israeli psyche”. In addition, a significant number of comments (23) were deleted by the moderators. Mostly, deletions are instances of outright anti-semitism which even the Guardian dare not allow to remain on their site.
But one thing that caught my eye was an idiotic post by someone called Berchmans.
This poster said that Iran’s threat to wipe Israel off the map was “not such a big deal” because when Alex Salmond the SNP leader argues for Scottish independence, he is arguing for wiping the UK off the map.
This really quite barmy observation received 10 recommendations, an indication of the level of debate about Israel on Cif. Presumably some people thought it was very clever.
I hope you get to write more pieces for the Guardian. The relentless stream of anti-Israel propaganda they produce day-in day-out attracts anti-semites like cockroaches, and has become very worrying.
April 13th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I am so glad that the Guardian’s ‘right-on’ armour has been breached in such an effective way and by such a well-argued article.
The comments from the usual suspects would be funny if they were not so indicative of just how pervasive and acceptable mindless condemnations of Israel have become.
Let us hope that the Guardian will continue to pursue a more even-handed editorial policy in the future.Might we even see articles by Israeli writers perhaps? Would Benny Morris be given the opportunity ?
April 13th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Amazingly enough, my moderated post was actually published for a change. Are things changing on the Guardian website?
Well done Robin for your piece. I keep reading that Jews are the pit canaries of a state. This particular canary is sniffing the air fervently and the stench of anti-semitism gets stronger. How long before it snuffs us out and the rest of you need to start watching your backs?
April 15th, 2010 at 5:54 am
Dear Robin,
Congratulations to your great writing in the Guardian! (I don’t know if the print version also published it?)
The context:
In my country, Hungary the situation is horrible as you referred to it in the piece. In a nutshell: as you alluded to, almost nobody knows outside Hungary that here at least in the countryside there’s almost a situation of an intra-ethnic set of conflict that could one day lead to civil war even. Naturally I’m talking about the Roma, Sinthi people (Gypsies pejoratively). In a country of barely 10 million around 600.000 people belong to this group and their numbers are growing, while the non-Roma majority is decreasing, and rapidly! This state portends a very bleak future for my country. The same applies to the Czechs as well, but they aremore fortunate since their Roma population is (less than) half of ours. Yes, let’s talk frankly the neo-Nazi party (”Jobbik” - a pun meaning the “better one” but also a play on the word “right” as right-wing…) achieved an astonishing almost 17 % from nothing as this party didn’t even exist 2-3 years ago. From Israel’s perspective I see some quaint and very attractive advantages though.What do I think of? Simple. Thishorrible, ultra-nationalist neo-fascist collective justdecided that they are staunch supporters of the Palestinians. (”No one understands them more than us since we know what homeland means”)- everything of course the function of their own barely concealed and at times very open antisemitism and raw Jew-hatred.
Israel and her supporters in the EU Parliament and elsewhere should, must! exploit this state of affaires and turn it to its own advantages. In a way, it could be a brilliant PR-coup in itself that embarrasses the left, far-left to the core. It’s all very obvious. (Btw, one of the prominents of the party a woman was the one who went to London a this winter and took part in a pro-Palestinian ceremony together withh the Liberal Democrat (!!!) Jenny Tonge and the radical extremist D. Abdallah of MPAC if I remember. Evrything dovetails from my point of view. This can be, again, such a PR-coup that Israel’s supporters should publicize the Jobbik’s ardent pro-Palestinianism without end.
My country is well, susceptible to demagogy, populism and worse, and sadly is a place which, compared to Britain for example a parallel Universe on its own. It also has a sordid, nauseating history vis-á-vis its behaviour with its Jews during the Holocaust. (The pre-war pop. of 800.000 was decimated to less than 200.000 - the vast majority of them Budapester survivors of the ghetto. My grandparents however were from the rrual countryside and my grandmother actually survived Auschwitz! She died in 2002.) Here the right-wing is generally pro-Palestinian, even the centre-right and its press - again, the function of their hidden anti-Semitism.
I wanna express my thanksand appreciation to Robin Shepherd for his really apt and well-thought out article! And the closing paragraph was simply brilliant.
June 4th, 2010 at 4:42 am
im not sure what the point of writing for the guardian is about, it just stirs the usual suspects up into their android like responses