Saturday, 12th of January, 2002

My oh my! It’s been a long time since I last posted! Oh well…

Strong plans for a re-design, I hope, and then I’ll put up a best-of list for 2001 as well. In the meantime, some articles I’ve come across after reading this week’s Spectrum in the Sydney Morning Herald.
An article by Linda Grant in today’s Spectrum lead me to the Guardian’s website to find the original article: The hate that will not die - about the growth of anti-semitism in the Arab world. It’s actually a pretty even-handed article, that acknowledges the brutality of the state of Israel, and the equal racism of Ariel Sharon, but points out the scary amount of anti-semitism and gullibility about Jews in much of the Arab world, which goes far beyond opposition of Israel. Anti-Zionism often equates to anti-semitism, and Zionism (a complex, many-faced thing) gets simplified (so that anyone who supports the existence of a state of Israel is automatically a Zionist, and therefore a support of the atrocities of the extremist government).
It’s particularly sad that the Left, who are supposed to be anti-racist, take on board so much of the rhetoric about Israel and Zionism…

Anyway, some related articles: the letters page about Grant’s article has some interesting commentary from left-wing Jews, among others; and Ian Baruma, also of the Guardian, writes here about Jews and Zionists, and the blinkered thinking of some commentators on the Left (among others).

What’s a left-wing Jew to do?…

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