Anti-Jewish double standards

Good article, thanks bags.

It was reported in The Telegraph that a UN panel has called on Israel to halt all settlement expansion and withdraw half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes.

Given this, and the recent Palestinian death toll, which is viewed by many other organisations and respected commentators as requiring an investigation into whether war crimes have been committed, it seems reasonable that a theatre would not wish to have even indirect support from a government that may be so charged.

The Tricycle was not preventing the UK Jewish Film Festival from taking place, censoring any of its films or denying it funds to put on the festival, but stipulating that funding by a government agency of Israel must be declined in the current circumstances.

Nick Cohen states that the decision is anti-Jewish but then refers sneeringly to "the inevitable progressive Jew" who supported it. There are many Jewish people who do not wish to be associated with Zionism and who resent the implied link between being Jewish and supporting Zionism that arises because of Israeli funding of the festival. The movement "Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods" protested outside the theatre in 2013, saying that it should not be hosting a festival that was in part sponsored by Israel.

As long as it remains impossible for people to understand it is possible to be anti-Israeli politics but not anti-Jew these quarrels will persist.

I do not support the current British Government but I am not anti-British!

Amongst my close group of friends are people of Jewish, Palestinian (muslim & christian) and christian/athesist British(white/black & Asian). We walk side by side to protest for the rights of Palestinians to a free homeland.

There have been cultural boycotts in the past (Sth Africa). I bet Nick Cohen supported those.

I have seen screenings of Israeli films that support Palestine or are at least empathetic and think they should be seen. The objection was about the surce of funding. Petty to some, important to others.

Am I being cynical or worse to sigh at the accusations of Anti- Semitism every time anybody "dares" to speak out against Israel and its aggressive Zionism. Nor is obe being a Holocaust denier to object or oppose. Israel cannot shelter behind the past and if anyone were to understand persecution it should be them. Sadly I think this will never happen.

I so agree- I am horrified by the actions of zionist in Gaza, their occupation, expansion, the expulsions, killings of civilians- (how can this NOT be called ethnic cleansing?) but I totally refuse any accusations of antisemitism, at all.

A boycott would make total sense- just as it did in apartheid South AFrica.

I do agree that strong objections to Israel's crimes against Palestinians in Gaza are no more anti-semitism on my part than objecting to British Foreign policy towards these troubles. Perhaps the current climate does have to influence decisions about receiving Israeli funds as some small way to raise awareness and ratchet up the pressure on Netanyahu to stop the massacre of Palestinians.

While I totally agree that Israel was completely wrong over the settlements and certainly needed world condemnation for this policy, I can't help but wonder if it is JUST possible that Hammas (whose sole aim is the destruction of Israel and the death of EVERY Jew in that area) are not completely blameless in the awful carnage of Gazza? I for one cannot imagine that any country in the world would stand by and watch as it is fired on by ever more sophisticated rockets, still less when confronted with numerous tunnels which have been dug for the sole purpose of that country's destruction. I do find myself wondering at the silence of the liberal left at the horrors perpetrated by other terrorist organisations the world over, or is it ok for muslim to terrorise muslim, drive people into the mountains to starve, kidnap schoolgirls, persecute Christians, slit throats, chop off heads, use civilians as human shields? need I go on - It's only just a thought!!

My understanding is that Hamas doesn't have sophisticated rockets, weaponry, machines and technology like Israel, nellie. Terrorism is never ok and I wouldn't lump different groups together and see them all acting for the same reasons or being persecutors where they are suffering mass destruction and having their families, schools and homes blown to smithereens. It feels like the world is holding its breath in the hope that a fragile ceasefire can be extended.

I'm sure the world is holding it's breath, but I also think that that Hamas has been forced to the negotiation table by these appalling events, something that would never have happened had Israel ignored the rocket's and tunnels or just complained to the U.N intermidadly, which lets face it would have got them nowhere!!! As for the rockets, you're right they are not particularly powerful, but for sure there will be a state somewhere/sometime that will be willing to remedy that, so what do you do? sit and wring your hands and hope it never happens, rely on the U.N?!!! with their track record I wouldn't have said so!!

Well said nigglynellie my thoughts exactly

No, I agree with you that Hamas is late to the negotiating table. They've become more violent and intent on fighting to the death to make some gains, which is met with Israeli determination to crush them into oblivion. Neither Palestinians nor Israeli citizens want war - they want it to stop. Whether Netanyahu shares the average citizen's view is another matter. There's a worrying Zionist claim that Palestinians shouldn't have a homeland. It isn't reciprocated by Palestinians - they just need a state to live in, in peace, and to have the same rights that Israelis have. The UN are useless and should have brokered some lasting agreements by now.

It is very difficult to believe the foreign correspondents. In the Times there was a comment that journalists dare not publish the truth that rockets are being fired from UN school play grounds and hospital car parks and that any sight of a camera would result in the photographer being shot. The journalists said that they could not tell the truth about Hamas basing their weapons in civilian areas for fear of their lives. If they can't be brave and say what is happening what is the point of them being there.
On another slant I heard two youngish men on the train out of London saying have you heard about the Jew and the Armenian and proceeded to tell what sounded like a racist joke. They were talking very loudly. I don't think I've ever heard that sort of joke apart from the Englishman Irishman and Scot type of joke in my younger days. I was really quite startled. I did the peering over the glasses and glaring but they just lowered their voices.

Stansgran - I'd like more evidence than a comment in the Times, obviously the backlash has started. Do you honestly think that respected journalists like Jon Snow and Paul Mason would behave like that? And if you thought they could, that they'd carry on concealing the truth when they got home?

"There's a worrying Zionist claim that Palestinians shouldn't have a homeland. It isn't reciprocated by Palestinians"

There is a worrying Islamist extremist claim that Jews shouldn't have a homeland. Given the latter of the quoted sentences, I presume the people firing rockets into Israel are not Palestinians. I wonder why the Palestinians aren't kicking them out as the troublemakers they are in that case.

Meanwhile in Iraq

Exactly, B. No international outrage as such - although this is all over twitter and in the newspapers. Desperate situation. More tribal warfare. It's medieval.

That's the thing, bags - extremists have these views, and they drag everyone down with them. Palestinians/Gaza have certainly have been blitzed to the extent that Netanyahu may be charged with war crimes. It's not anti-Jewish to be horrified at the wholesale bombing being inflicted over Gaza - reminds me of George W Bush and his frightful 'shock and awe' threat.

No-one has said that it is anti-Jewish "to be horrified at the wholesale bombing being inflicted over Gaza".

What Cohen said is that it's anti-Semitic for a theatre in England to pick on an Anglo-Jewish film charity (*and no others!*) and to make political demands.

Stephen Pollard thinks so too. I agree.

And that isn't saying I'm anti-Palestinian or anti-Gaza.

'People' of all nationalities, colour or crede just want to to live their lives in peace and harmony so what it is that makes our fellow human beings behave so appallingly to each other is beyond me. Of course there should be a Palestinian Sate living in peace alongside whatever state happens to be there, and there could be but for these wretched fanatics who are determined to impose their particular form of life style on others, killing, beating and behaving so horribly to those who don't comply. How on earth could any responsible government expose their citizens to so much danger by putting weapons of war in peoples homes, schools, hospitals, kindergartens? Surely it is the duty of every government to protect and shield their citizens, and if you must antagonise your much more powerful neighbour beyond endurance, it might be a good idea to provide some proper shelters to protect your citizens (the tunnels?) when the inevitable backlash occurs.

The Tricycle issue is another bloody distraction! I personally believe that boycotts are a legitimate way to protest and to put pressure on governments/policies. I also understand how hard it is for the actors/musicians/artists/sports folk etc who get caught up in it all. The funding from the Israeli Embassy ( representing Israel) was the issue and i believe the Tricycle tried to overcome that. I am sure the Tricycle is not anti-Semetic. I have been there loads of times to see various 'political' plays and it is a very 'socialist' sort of place.

Also please can we stop lumping the different 'middle eastern' wars into one and using their actions to justify the Israeli Governments actions against Gaza.

I know there are awful and terrible things happening as a result of different factions fighting for power in the name of their particular brand of Islam and I am no fan of extremism/misogyny/ racism but the Palestinian people are browbeaten and subjugated. They deserve a proper voice and a homeland as much as any Jew.

The Palestinian people voted in HAMAS because they thought that being 'stronger' they would be able to bargain with Israel for a better deal.
Only they will know in the end if it was worth it.Although Western governments have sympathy for the Palestinian people, they have had a bellyful of Islamist hard-liners, both in the US and here.
I feel so sorry for the people that HAMAS are hiding behind, however a lot of the people there are behind HAMAS all the way.Children, as usual the world over are caught in the crossfire and have no choices at all.Israel has a right to live peacefully, but has more or less made this situation by penning the people into Gaza and treating them like dirt.

Well put Roses

Even if what The Tricycle has done is not anti-semitic, pen, if it is justified, why doesn't Tricycle apply the same principle to other funding from other governments of whose actions they disapprove?

Or, as Cohen put it: "Would you force anyone else to behave like this?"

They didn't / wouldn't answer that question.

This issue needn't 'distract' anyone from the Israel/Gaza conflict and more than any other piece of news does. It's our own choice whether to be distracted, as always.

I suppose the dreadful situation in Iraq is a 'distraction' too?.... thought not.

I'm beginning to feel some people cannot separate (entirely natural) emotions from logical points and that's why they don't see the logic.