The Parade of Shame

Akram Awad

Thursday March 20, 2008

It takes one a lot of courage to be brave enough (read unashamed) to celebrate a 60 year history of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, occupation, racism and war crimes. And it looks like the main Jewish bodies in the UK have decided to work hand-in-hand, taking their pride in that history to a new level this year by organising the “Salute to Israel” parade in London next June.

According to the organisers, the parade will demonstrate “affirmation of solidarity with and support of Israel”. This kind of unconditional support has always been the trend for both the organising and the supporting bodies of the parade. These include: Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies, the CST, JNF UK, Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, Manchester ZCC, UJIA, UJS, Zionist Federation, Zionist Youth Council, the Movement for Reform Judaism, and the United Synagogue.

Celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the declaration of Israel as a State also means, undoubtedly, taking pride in the horrific crimes committed by the Jewish militias (which later became the Israeli Defence Force) against the indigenous Palestinians in the years 1947 till 1949, which paved the way for the existence of Israel. The systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians preceding the foundation of the State resulted in dozens of massacres, the destruction or Judaisation of more than 400 towns and villages, and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians who now number 6-7 million refugees scattered all around the world. These figures are not only enough to make any Israeli ashamed of their country, but they are also sufficient by themselves to build the case against the right of Israel to exist.

Thus, it is striking to witness the major Jewish political and religious bodies in the UK praising a country with such a history, offending the memory of thousands of victims of Israeli terrorism, the millions of Palestinians in the UK and around the world, and the British people, as a whole, who take pride in promoting and defending fundamental human rights and ensuring mutual respect between the different groups making up this nation. Embedding the Union Jack within the Israeli flag in the parade’s logo is just another example of how ignorant the organisers are to the values of the British nation. I believe that it’s not questionable that neo-Nazis should not be permitted to promote their fascist beliefs by using the British flag with a Swastika. Promoting an illegal occupier and the only lasting apartheid regime on earth is not any better.

However, it is not just the pre-State history that is a source of shame for Israel. The military occupation of the rest of Palestine in 1967 (i.e. the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza strip) is an illegal act which, for the last 40 years, was condemned in dozens of resolutions by the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, International Court of Justice and Human Rights Council, of which Israel insists to abide by none. Add to this, the Apartheid practices imposed on the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are not limited to the Wall, checkpoints, settlements, imprisoning and water supply discrimination.

Moreover, the “only democracy in the Middle East” is probably the best example of what an extremely racist State can be. With discriminatory policies that favour Jewish citizens over Arab citizens and with the Law of Return which allows anyone with Jewish origin to become an Israeli citizen while denying the right of return for Palestinian refugees, there is hardly any room for doubt that Israel is a racist State.

The organisers of the “Salute to Israel” parade themselves are not remote from the above course of events. Some even played a key role in the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. The JNF, for instance, participated actively in the destruction of Palestinian villages, the Judaisation of others and the building of settlements. Nowadays, its main role is to cover up for the ethnic cleansing crimes by planting parks on ruins of destroyed Palestinian villages, all financed by charity money received through its offices around the world, including its UK-based registered charity, JNF UK.

The Union of Jewish Students in the UK, UJS, has taken a more active part in the military aspects of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, by recruiting for the Israeli Army in the summer of 2007 and encouraging British Jews to do their national service in the Israeli Army “where it is really needed”. This is in breach of the UK Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 which considers it a crime for a British subject to enlist in the army of a foreign nation that is at war with any country that the UK is at peace with.

UJIA is the organisation responsible for encouraging and assisting Jews from the UK to immigrate to Israel i.e., ensuring the implementation of the racist Aliyah (Return) laws. This is of course in addition to funding the UJS and other organisations which strive to justify Israel’s crimes to the British public.

The examples of the involvement of the parade’s organisers in the crimes of the Zionist State are endless. However, what irritates more than anything else is watching the same people claiming to work for justice and peace while openly declaring themselves as believers of the racist Zionist ideology and supporting the Zionist State’s crimes. What sort of trust are faith leaders expected to show toward the United Synagogue during inter-faith activities when the latter salutes, out of all countries of the world, a country which John Dugard accused of committing war crimes against the Palestinians? Likewise, how are we expected to receive the UJS’s passion to save Darfur when all what they do, on the other hand, is to praise Israel in every possible occasion and suppress all the voices calling for an end to the Israeli illegal occupation and apartheid in Palestine? One phrase is enough to describe the Jewish bodies organising and supporting the “Salute to Israel” Parade: A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES.

The bunch of hypocrites have classified themselves as Zionist organisations which care unlimitedly about Israel and couldn’t care less about the reputation of the Jewish faith, which they are tarnishing by attaching themselves to a Divine faith that should be promoting the values of justice, equality and coexistence. The ball is now in the court of all those who stand for justice and cannot stand hypocrisy. The next time any of the parade’s organisers knocks on your door, a good “no, thank you” answer would be “Interesting to see an apartheid apologist playing the angel”!

A British Union recruits for the Israeli Army!

Based on my personal experience in Leeds University and the National Union of Students (NUS), I couldn't agree more with the brave ex-Israeli Jewish academic Ilan Pappe when he accused Jewish campus groups in the UK and some Jewish students of being ""ambassadors of Israel". However I could never imagine that the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) is shameful enough to call the Jewish British students for "National Service" in Israel by voluntarily serving in the Israeli Occupation Army.

In their campaign for this summer's activities which was given the motto "Whatever you do this summer, do it in Israel with UJS", UJS offered Jewish students the chance to participate in the Sar-El program. The advert reads "Join students from around the world on a national project with the Israeli army. Spend 2 weeks volunteering with Israeli peers and make a difference where it is really needed!"

Sar-El is an Israeli Army unit which aims at recruiting volunteers from both Israel and the rest of the world to help the Israeli army. The majority of Sar-El volunteers serve in army bases and are assigned a variety of tasks which according to volunteers include " doing maintenance on tanks and heavy vehicles " and "refurbishing used or damaged military equipment, which saves Israel millions of dollars." During their "National Service" volunteers wear the Israeli army uniform and work alongside or under the direction of soldiers.

Although it is not a crime for a British citizen to serve in a foreign army, The Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 makes it a crime for a British subject to enlist in the army of a foreign nation that is at war with any country that the UK is at peace with. On the other hand Israel -since its foundation in 1948- has been in a continuous state of war with the Palestinians (or more accurately against them), the Lebanese and Syrians (whom Israel is occupying part of their lands since 1967) and with most Arab countries. It is obvious that when two states negotiate mutual peace agreements they explicitly -or implicitly- look for an end to the state of war between them, otherwise it won't be true that you make peace with your enemies. The daily crimes of the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian civilians in West Bank and Gaza strip and the war against Lebanon in 2006 are just examples of that state of war. The UK however is not by any means at war with any of the Arab countries, including the Palestinians and the Lebanese, and hence Jewish British citizens who serve in the Israeli occupation army become theoretically guilty of an offence against the law.

I need not to say, but I will do, that it does not need me to be dictated by the British law to make me realise that it is a betrayal to my humanity to proudly serve in an army which evolved from Zionist terrorist groups which was responsible for hundreds of massacres against the Palestinians in 1948 and 1949 and for the displacement of half of the Palestinian nation from their homeland. It does not need laws to forbid an English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh (whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish or atheist) from involving in the repair and maintenance of the Israeli army artillery which is directly responsible for the killing of thousands of Palestinians and for jeopardising the lives and well being of millions of Palestinians through its practices which include, but are not limited to, hundreds of checkpoints, invasions, curfews, imprisonment of more than 10,000 Palestinians (Men, women and children and quarter of the Palestinian Parliament), building the apartheid wall (including its 40-meter wide electrified fence and 8-meter high concrete wall parts), the ongoing construction of Israeli settlements among Palestinian communities in the Occupied West Bank and the continuous judaisation of the holy city of Jerusalem by demolishing Arab properties and replacing them with Jewish communities.

It is a shame that while only half of the Jewish Britons consider themselves as Zionists (based on a survey pubished by IJV), Zionists still insist to hijack every institution which is supposed to serve the followers of Judaism regardless of their political stances (including UJS and the Board of Deputies) and to silence every Jewish voice which speaks against Zionism or the Zionist regime and its racist and apartheid policies and practices. UJS is already in breach of this common-sense commitment by being a member of the Zionist Youth Council, an organisation which adopts Zionism as a basis for its agenda despite its racist and discriminatory nature and the fact that many Jews disagree with it. The schizophrenia of the UJS proves to be far worse than the most pessimistic could have feared. What else can we expect from a British "National" Union after it openly called its membership to break the law for the sake of another country? Probably officially launching a program to recruit Jewish youth to fight in the Israeli Occupation Army would be the next good idea?!

Until Politicians decide to wake up and shut the UJS unless it stops acting as an Israeli National Union, all universities and colleges in the UK should take a firm stand against the national Union's dual-nationalism by giving no platform to Jewish campus societies that affiliate with UJS "the ambassador of Israel".