Louise Ellman, in her recent polemic about Zionism and anti-Zionism, presents her view that “elements of the far-left” have adopted a myth “that the state of Israel is somehow symbolic of, and central to, all the world’s ills”. The picture she paints is an inaccurate picture of any significant part of the current Labour left – though it may be a valid representation of parts of the far left outside the Labour Party.
The existence of any form of racism in the Labour Party is of course troubling and merits a disciplinary response, and care is always needed about the language we use in emotive debates. That needn’t prevent discussion of the worsening conflict in Israel/Palestine nor of the changing face of “Zionism” and making legitimate contributions to such discussion is not conditional on support for Zionism.
Some expressions of anti-Zionism are racist, just as are the views of Israeli far-right self-proclaimed Religious Zionists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, members of the
— source jfjfp.com | Jon Lansman | Jul 27, 2023