The IDF is not just Israel's army: it is a symbol of Jewish self-defence
But now Jews are fighting back. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has blasted 'toxic Jew-hatred' posing as 'edgy political commentary'. The Jewish Leadership Council declaimed an 'obscene display of extremist hatred'. The anti-Zionists, meanwhile, have argued that Vylan's chant was nothing more than criticism of Israel and its military operation in Gaza.
In fact, they say, it is Vylan's detractors who are the real anti-Semites for conflating Israel with Jews. If the Palestinians must be patronised by grandstanding Westerners, they deserve better than these faint-hearted crybullies.
Not that the feelings of the Chief Rabbi or communal organisations have any impact on anti-Zionists. Lived experience is sacrosanct for every minority apart from Jews.
For a movement that appears to glory in violent rhetoric, when consequences rear their head they fold like a Hamas command centre paid a visit by the Israeli Air Force. They embrace nuance and complexity and all those other traits of the snivelling liberals they scorn. Their anti-Zionism retreats from banner slogans to multi-page footnotes.
Yes, they cavil, the IDF is a conscript army made up almost exclusively of Jews, but that doesn't mean calling for its 'death' is a call for death to Jews. (Disparate impact is another doctrine of the Left that applies to every minority except the Jews.)
Why do they cry ' death to the IDF'? The Israeli army is civilian led. Why not death to the Israeli prime minister, or the defence minister, or the security cabinet? It is not just a matter of what rhymes. The IDF is not just Israel's army; it is the symbol and the substance of Jewish self-defence and Jewish sovereignty. Without the IDF, there would be no Israel, and this is exactly what they want.
Across 2,000 years of exile from their homeland, Jews were reviled, calumnied, excluded, expelled, pogrommed, and exterminated. As the Passover Haggadah observes: 'Not only one has risen up against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise up to destroy us.' The restoration of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel was about ensuring that future generations had a means of defending themselves. More would come to destroy them, but this time they'd be prepared.
Strong Jews, sovereign Jews, Jews you can't push around. For two millennia, these were concepts not merely revolutionary but fantastical. But now they are lived out every day in Israel. Political anti-Zionism is a project to separate the Jewish people from the theory and practice of Jewish self-determination. The Israeli army is all that stands between 'death to the IDF' and 'death to the Jews'.
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The Guardian
14 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israeli media ‘completely ignored' Gaza starvation - is that finally changing?
Images of Palestinian children in Gaza, emaciated by hunger under the blockade imposed by Israel, and families grieving the more than 61,000 people killed in the territory have stirred outrage among foreign governments and much of the global public. Inside Israel, however, the reaction has been markedly different. According to a poll conducted in late July by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), more than three-quarters of Jewish Israelis – 79% – said they were either 'not very troubled' or 'not troubled at all' by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza's Palestinian population. The reason is simple, according to media expert Anat Saragusti: most people in Israel are unaware of those reports because for months they have never seen them. ''Until a couple of weeks ago, you could count only a handful of reports from Gaza not filtered by the IDF,'' Saragusti, head of freedom of the press at the Union of Journalists in Israel, says. ''[Except for a few newspapers such as the leftwing Haaretz] all the other mainstream media completely ignored what's going on on the Palestinian side, the human casualties there, the numbers of children killed in this war. The Israeli audience simply did not see that at all.'' In the past few weeks, the growing focus on the issue in the international media led to some Israeli newspapers and TV channels reporting on hunger in Gaza for the first time, albeit as a debatable issue. Since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, public debate in Israel has largely centred on national security, the plight of the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas, and the country's military goals in Gaza. In that climate, the humanitarian disaster caused by the Israeli assault on Gaza tends to occupy a marginal place in the minds of many Jewish Israelis, who largely view the conflict as a legitimate act of self-defence in response to Hamas's attacks – although polls also show a clear majority want a deal with Hamas to end the war in exchange for the freedom of the remaining Israeli hostages. Media analysts say Israel's main broadcasters have largely embraced the narrative of a government described as the most far-right in the country's history. For months, the Israeli media has responded to international outrage by focusing on Israeli claims that the widespread hunger documented by numerous aid agencies is 'a Hamas-orchestrated starvation campaign' – summed up by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim last month: 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.' According to UN World Food Programme, one-third of the Palestinian population in Gaza is going for days without eating, and half a million are on the brink of starvation, it said in July. 'The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' the UN-backed hunger experts the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said last month, calling for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate 'widespread starvation'. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), another five people died last week due to malnutrition and starvation, bringing the total number of malnutrition-related deaths to 227, including 103 children, since October 2023. Even Donald Trump, Netanyahu's key international ally, when asked if he agreed with the Israeli PM on the issue, said: 'I don't know … those children look very hungry … that's real starvation stuff.' In a rare press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem last Sunday, Netanyahu displayed photographs of skeletal children in Gaza and dismissed them as fake, claiming they were part of a Hamas plot to attack Israel. He compared these images with a photograph of Israeli hostage Evyatar David released by the Palestinian militant group early in August, pointing out that while the man held in Gaza appeared to be starving to death, the arm of a Hamas fighter visible in the frame looked strong and muscular. The implication, according to the prime minister, was clear: the fighters of Hamas were eating well and keeping food from both the Israeli hostages and the public of Gaza. ''Despite images of emaciated children published by major newspapers around the world, Israel pushed back,' says Saragusti. 'And Israeli media outlets adopted the narrative set out by the Israeli leadership, insisting that there is no starvation in Gaza.' As Etan Nechin, Haaretz's New York correspondent, wrote: ''After Netanyahu lost the election to Ehud Barak in 1999, reporters heard him say: 'When I return, I'll have my own media outlet.'' Today, two major media organisations are known for their backing of Netanyahu: Israel Hayom, the free daily with the deep pockets of Sheldon Adelson, the US Republican mega-donor; and Channel 14, a right-leaning broadcaster that went on air in 2014. ''They changed Israel's media landscape, and in the years that followed, a plethora of new hard-right outlets were established,'' said Nechin. Although Israel appears to exist within its own bubble, shielded by a narrative that leaves no room for the suffering of people in Gaza, thousands of demonstrators who recently filled the streets of Tel Aviv are now urging the government to halt the atrocities against the Palestinians. ''I think it is horrendous what is happening in Gaza,'' says Lenny Kadmon, 19. ''I think that the main reason not everyone here is against it is because most people find it too difficult or too scary to look at themselves and at what we do in Gaza.'' ''I come here to protest in Tel Aviv every weekend,'' says Gal Alkalay, 28. ''We ask our PM to end the war. Only in this way we can end the starvation in Gaza and the return of our hostages.'' And yet, despite a growing number of Israeli intellectuals using the word 'genocide' to describe their government's actions in Gaza – as the award-winning author David Grossman did just a fortnight ago – analysts say they remain a small minority. In Jerusalem, where tensions between Arabs and Israelis are sharper, the majority of Jewish residents continue to align themselves with the narrative of Israel's political leadership. Asked what she thinks of the suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza, Myriam Israel, 34, says: ''I think people should also see the suffering of our children terrorized by Hamas. But the world thinks only about children of Gaza. I think Hamas needs to think about their own children. And we need to think about the security of our country.'' ''All you have to do is use your brain five seconds, and you can see that Hamas's ultimate aim is to get that number [of deaths] as high as possible,'' says Zalman Coleman, 21. ''And then from that, turn the whole world's face against Israel. [In this conflict] the media had so much potential to do so much good in the world. But they chose fake news.'' After the Hamas-led attacks of 2023, Israel has almost completely barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza – an unprecedented move in the history of modern conflict, marking one of the rare moments that reporters have been denied access to an active war zone. Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have formally called for Gaza to be opened to foreign media, warning that current measures severely undermine press freedom. Many argue the Israeli ban is a deliberate tactic to restrict independent scrutiny, limit international visibility of the conflict, and thus control the narrative. ''The only way to enter Gaza and cover the war is to embed in Israeli army units,' says Saragusti – and even that is rarely allowed. ''There is no independent press in Gaza. There are only the Palestinian journalists, who many of them have been killed. Israel claims that there is no starvation, but doesn't let the foreign press in to check by itself whether there is starvation or not.'' ''Up to now, she adds, the press blockade has succeeded very well in its goal.''
Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Sally Rooney vows to use BBC royalties to fund Palestine Action
Sally Rooney has vowed to use money from the BBC to fund the proscribed terror organisation Palestine Action. The novelist said the police should investigate the corporations and the high-street stores that stock and promote her work if they believe she is committing an act of terrorism. Membership and support of Palestine Action, including funding, can carry sentences of up to 14 years in prison after the group was banned by the Government in July. The Normal People author made the comments in the Irish Times, noting that it would be illegal for her to publish them in a British newspaper. She said she felt compelled to publicly express her support after 'more than 500 peaceful protesters' were arrested for doing the same in a single day on Aug 9. 'If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it,' she wrote. 'My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. 'In recent years the UK's state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees. 'I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. 'If the British state considers this 'terrorism', then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.' The BBC and WH Smith have been contacted for comment. Ms Rooney said that 'to ensure that the British public is made aware of my position, I would happily publish this statement in a UK newspaper – but that would now be illegal'. She has previously expressed her support for the group in a witness statement handed to London's High Court, where the decision to proscribe the group is being challenged by one of its founders. The Irish author has now accused Sir Keir Starmer's government of stripping its citizens of 'basic rights and freedoms' to protect its relationship with Israel. The ramifications are 'profound' and 'an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public', she said. Palestine Action was proscribed by the Home Secretary after activists allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and vandalised two military aircraft, causing £7m of damage. Ms Rooney, whose novels Normal People and Conversations with Friends have been adapted into BBC dramas, noted that the decision puts it on the same footing as al-Qaeda and Islamic State. This means that 'even a simple placard or T-shirt' expressing support is now 'a serious terror offence under UK law', she wrote. In the six weeks since the ban, the Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 700 people for supporting the group. The force said a further 60 people will be prosecuted for support of Palestine Action, while Norfolk Police said on Saturday that 13 people were arrested at a protest in Norwich. Ms Rooney pointed out that those arrested include an Irish citizen and a woman in Belfast. She described the arrest by PSNI officers as 'political policing', noting that the force made no arrests after a mural for the proscribed Ulster Volunteer Force, 'responsible for the murders of hundreds of civilians', was repainted in north Belfast last year. She said: 'Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being. 'Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?' Ms Rooney also questioned why the Irish Government, which has stated that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine, has remained silent when its citizens have been arrested 'for protesting an acknowledged genocide'.
BBC News
16 minutes ago
- BBC News
Five Wearside and County Durham stories you might have missed this week
Dolphins are spotted at a repaired pier, the prime minister supports a film studio project, tower block tenants fear relocation, fake council notes ban ball games and a council cuts Pride funding. Here are some Wearside and County Durham stories you might have missed this week. Dolphins spotted as storm-damaged pier reopens A pier damaged by Storm Babet in 2023 has officially reopened to the public, who were treated to the sight of dolphins Roker Pier has been closed for nearly two years after it suffered "significant structural damage".Part of the path on the Grade II listed structure had broken off and 300ft (91m) of railings were washed away during the October more about the dolphin sightings here Starmer backs city's 'landmark' film studios bid Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised the government's "full backing" to get Sunderland's flagship Crown Works Studios project back on emerged earlier this summer that the main private backer behind the £450m film and TV studio development had pulled East leaders are now pushing to find new investors to ensure the huge regeneration scheme, earmarked for the banks of the River Wear in Pallion, can go more about the film studio project here Tower block tenants fear relocation for demolition A tower block resident says he thought his housing association was joking when he was handed a letter confirming the flats where he lives would be said it had opted to flatten Lambton, Londonderry and Lumley Towers in Sunderland's East End by 2030 to avoid "significant" repair costs and Jamie Lee said he was shocked by the news, while another, Steve Potter, said he was told about the plans by neighbours after coming home from hospital. Read more about the tower block demolition here Fake council note banning ball games sent to homes A fake council letter sent to residents saying ball games were banned and threatening fines is being note, claiming to be from one of Durham County Council's neighbourhood teams, was posted through doors in Stanley saying there had been reports of children playing "aggressively". It states "no ball games (football) are allowed in this area" and warned people they can cause "distress" to the more about the fake council letter here Durham County Council to cut Pride funding A Reform-led council has cut funding for a city's annual Pride Grimes, Durham County Council's deputy leader, criticised the annual celebration of the LGBT+ community and said the local authority would instead divert funding to key of people attended this year's festival, held in Durham City across two days in May, which saw up to £12,500 invested by the council as part of work to support events in the region following its unsuccessful City of Culture more about the council funding cut here Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
