 
Antisemitism in the contemporary
Far-left is rarely expressed in the
explicit and direct anti-Jewish manner
that characterizes antisemitism in the
Far-right. It also differs from the more
blatant forms that emanated from certain
circles of the Left prior to the
Holocaust. That being said, the
antisemitism found in this political
sphere does build on many of the
pre-Holocaust anti-Jewish tropes and
perceptions, particularly those viewing
the Jews as an omnipotent, powerful, world-dominating, conspiratorial force.
When discussing antisemitism in the
contemporary Far-left,
we must first acquaint ourselves with an
important term - anti-Zionism. Used today
to describe various religious, moral and
political points of view, both past and
current anti-Zionism has taken on
different meanings and definitions,
which consequently makes it complicated
to pinpoint and define. Following the
establishment of the State of Israel in
1948 and the political tensions that
arose during the Cold War, anti-Zionism
has become increasingly converged with
antisemitism in the West, particularly
in the Far-left. Let's now turn to hear
more about the history of anti-Zionism,
its changing nature, and how it relates
to contemporary antisemitism.
Before 1948, the objection
to Zionism came naturally
from the Arab population in Palestine
but it was also a very prominent trend
among Jews. Zionism was not the only
movement that wanted to change the
future of the Jews in Europe. There was
opposition from religious anti-Zionists
who opposed it on theological grounds,
from Marxist anti-Zionists who argued
that Jews should seek their
emancipation and their liberation along
with the whole of humanity; from
assimilationists
who in the late 19th century and early
20th century said: "Hang on, Jews in Europe
have achieved a whole range of civil and
political rights by finally convincing
people that we are not a separate nation
and now we're telling them we are?
It's going to ruin everything."
Of course things changed. Political
conditions changed. The Shoah happened
and Israel was created and those two
events revolutionized Jewish politics. So
now a belief in the essential existence
of Israel  - that Israel is the Jewish
homeland - is the view of the widespread
majority of Jewish people certainly in
Britain. And anti-Zionism in Jewish
politics is a very small fringe. But on
the left, on the broader left, it's much wider.
Most people in fact who subscribe
to what they call anti-Zionism know almost
nothing about Zionism or Zionisms in
the plural. They're not acquainted with
the history of Zionism. Anti-Zionism
becomes a camouflage term for hostility
to the State of Israel and often to the
Jewish people as such. It goes well
beyond what one might call legitimate
differences with particular Israeli
policies or particular Israeli actions.
Those things need not in fact be
antisemitic whatsoever. But when the
existence of the state itself, Israel
among all the world states, is brought
into question, when the future of Israel
is denied, when Israel is compared to
apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany,
we've crossed the line into another
realm altogether. Anti-Zionism is not
a good term for it. I'm not sure that
anti-Israelism, which is sometimes used,
is a good term either. What I see is
extreme, fervent, passionately-driven
hostility to the existence
of the Jewish nation-state.
It's an anti Zionism that is based on conspiracy
theory, that is allied to openly
antisemitic, violently antisemitic
movements in the Middle East and that
draws on more antisemitic forms of
anti-Zionism that really grew out of the
Soviet Union and Soviet propaganda in
the 1960s and 1970s. And unfortunately
this is the kind of anti-Zionism that is
more prevalent now in that political
space.
