Zionism, fascism and (cough) anti-terrorism

Wherever we turn these days we’re confronted by the spectre of fascism. Sometimes the fascism assumes the form of classic fascism, other times it wears the clothes of people who claim to be victims of fascism, increasingly it passes as western liberal democracy knowing full well that that system has been completely hollowed out.

The version of fascism that is honest enough to look like fascism is captured by the thugs in Europe and the US who are attacking migrants verbally and physically. They’re spurred on by political parties and governments that created the conditions for the re-emergence of the fascist thuggery in the first place, namely the vast rise in inequality and job insecurity, the degradation of social services that has created scarcity, and the systematic bombing of countries that have refused to submit to western imperial demands (Libya, Iraq, Syria, etc). These bombing campaigns are carried out in name of democracy even though their aim was to create civil war and undermine the ability of governments to pursue a path that didn’t suit western interests. These civil wars inevitably result in mass migration. The western leaders who decided that the wars should be fought in the first place then seek to bolster their popularity by opposing migration. They know they can rely on the corporate media to whip up a moral panic because that’s a good way to attract an audience. This is one form that fascism takes these days, even if the people who are responsible like to wear suits.

The version of fascism that’s rooted in victimhood is exemplified by Israel. Zionism might have been a colonial enterprise from birth yet it wasn’t until Zionist leaders drew on the example of Hitler’s genocide that they were able to generate enough momentum to establish the State of Israel. The importance of victimisation came to be epitomised at Yad Vashem, Israel’s first Holocaust museum, established as early as 1953. Curators were so focused on claiming exclusive victimhood for the Jews they resolved to exclude the first targets of Hitler’s genocide, the disabled, and also ignored the fate of the gypsies, who suffered proportionately the same number of deaths as the Jews. (As per usual, I write this as a Jew whose dad came out of Nazi Germany on the kindertransport in 1939.) The murder of communists was obviously sidelined as well.

Embedded via relentless propaganda disguised as education, the victimhood card has enabled Israel to ethnically cleanse and then perpetrate the genocide of the Palestinians in the name of self-defence. Israel argues it’s only doing what it’s doing to ward of the threat of terrorism (from all Palestinians) and antisemitism (or anyone who opposes Israel). This us/them psychology is endemic to fascism. So is the argument that only certain people (the Jews, not the Palestinians) are worthy of democratic rights and equal treatment before the law. The belief that the Jews are god’s chosen people and that therefore every murder of every child is validated by god is also fascistic. The Christian evangelists who support this argument are also fascists.

The third form of fascism is on daily display in the UK, Germany and the US and comes in the form of governments that might have come to power through the electoral process but have only done so in countries where (i) the democratic process is all but entirely broken, (ii) governments elected by a minority of the total population are breaking promises made in their manifestos, and (iii) the acts that break these manifesto promises explicitly go against popular opinion.

If we take the repulsive example of the Labour party in the UK, I didn’t vote for Keir Starmer and would have never voted for Starmer because long before the 2024 election it had become explicitly clear that he was a lying, corrupt, autocratic politician whose only purpose was to build his own career while propping up the establishment. In the Labour Party manifesto Starmer claimed he would “push for an immediate ceasefire”, the “upholding of international law” and a “rapid increase of aid into Gaza”, adding that “Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”. Instead Starmer (in tandem with foreign secretary David Lammy, home secretary Yvette Cooper and the legal advice of his close friend attorney general Richard Hermer) has repeatedly defended Israel’s “right to defend itself”. He has broken international law by providing a regime that’s accused of perpetrating a genocide and war crimes with military equipment, spying information and use of its air force base in Cyprus. Starmer has also done nothing to compel the Israeli government to lift its blockade of Gaza, eg cut off diplomatic relations, introduce a trade boycott, stop supplying military equipment and spying information. The hijacking of the democratic process in order to support a fascist country is fascistic.

Starmer’s use of the laughably misnamed “anti-terrorism” legislation to clamp down on the Palestine solidarity protest movement, most notably through the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, offers another example of his fascistic behaviour. The attempt to discredit PA as a terrorist organisation, even though it uses red paint and not violence in order to sway the opinion of civilians, all of this while Israel is perpetrating a genocide in which the overwhelming majority of targets are civilians, all with the intent of persuading those civilians to abandon Gaza, distorts the truth while repressing free speech. The insistence that the police arrest anyone who shows any form of support for PA—whether they be pensioners, disabled people, health workers, writers, students or indeed anyone who opposes genocide—rather than get on with trying to prevent actual crime amounts to an attempt to eradicate legitimate dissent. The portrayal of people expressing ideas that just happen to be different as extremists obviously suppresses debate. Starmer has also systematically expelled people who are left-wing and/or critical of Israel from the Labour party (many of them Jews). All of this is unmistakably fascistic.

I’ve also got to the point where I also don’t accept the proscription of Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Because I don’t want to go to prison for 14 years, I should be clear that to argue that Hamas shouldn’t be proscribed isn’t the same thing as saying that I agree with everything about Hamas. However like everyone else I’ve been doing plenty of thinking since 7/10 and over the summer I also did some further reading, and over time it’s become clear that there’s no basis for proscribing Hamas, especially if Israel isn’t also proscribed. Indeed while Israel is an explicitly terroristic as well as colonialist state that has dedicated itself to ethnic cleansing and genocide, Hamas, which only came into existence because of Israel’s terroristic conduct, has self-consciously modelled itself as a national liberation movement, with the ANC its primary reference point.

Hamas has distinguished itself from other liberation groups that adopted terrorism as a tactic by restricting its actions to historic Palestine. It has never carried out an act of what could be called “international terrorism”. Moreover it has focused its attacks on the IDF, which amounts to a legitimate military target given that under UN law resistance is a recognised right if one’s homeland is occupied, rather than Israeli-Jewish civilians. This strategy informed the al-Asqa Flood of 7/10. The full complexity of what happened that day, including the massacre that followed the unexpected success of the early operation as well as Israel’s activation of the Hannibal Directive, which led the IDF to massacre a significant if ultimately unknown proportion of the Israeli civilians who died that day, is again a matter for another post. The simple point remains: the proscription of Hamas as a terrorist organisation cannot be straightforwardly justified. The proscription plays on deep-rooted colonialist tropes that are rooted in orientalist racism, it amounts to an unreasonable restriction of free speech, and it intentionally prevents a full discussion of how we can end Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinians—because how can Hamas not be part of that analysis and discussion? So this, too, is fascistic.

Incidentally, on Wednesday Nelson Mandela’s grandson (above) said that the lives of Palestinians under Israel are worse than anything Black South Africans experienced under apartheid. As obvious as this might be, the comment is very much welcome. I know of Zionists who identify as liberal-left who were claiming even after 7/10 that Israel isn’t an apartheid state and shouldn’t be compared to SA because SA was racist. Yes, that’s what they said. Once upon a time Mandela was also labelled a terrorist and the ANC a terrorist organisation, including by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Now Mandela is rightly considered to be one of the greatest freedom fighters and the ANC one of its greatest liberation movements of the 20th century. Surely the same recognition will one day be afforded to Hamas and its growing list of murdered leaders.



So Zionism takes precedence over free speech and democracy and therefore, minimally, has become integral to the rollout of fascistic policies.



Three quick points to wrap.



First, five days ago Israel assassinated Yemen’s prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi. No comment from Starmer or Lammy.



Second, it’s time for anyone who uses Google to stop. The tech company has just entered into a $45 million contract with Israel to promote the Israeli government and downplay its genocide of the Palestinians.



I’ve been using Ecosia for quite a few years now. I haven’t missed google one bit and Ecosia’s model is based on using search clicks to pay for millions of trees to be planted. There are plenty of companies other than google that offer email services. 



Second, well done to Lush for closing its stores in the UK for one day to show solidarity with Palestine. One of the company’s objectives was to deprive the UK government of the taxes it would have accrued from that day’s business. Signs were posted on all of the stores explaining the reason for the action. Starmer often has a confused look on his face, maybe this is something he’ll understand.




Several months ago I learned that Lush was producing watermelon soap and sending profits to medical services for Palestine. I ordered five bars and have felt cleaner ever since.



It’s been incredible to witness the effectiveness of the BDS campaign. I’m very happy to report that an ex-student of mine is playing a pivotal role in the organisation—no thanks to me, I should add. Genocide is happening because genocide is making money for corporations and the stock market. Every time we reduce the amount of money we give to these corporations we contribute to what is inevitable: that Israel will fail to complete the genocide of the Palestinians, that Israel will never recover from the horrors it has perpetrated, and that one day a Palestinian state will come into existence.



There is so much action taking place on so many fronts these days, from the energy embargo on Israel imposed by Colombia to the Irish bank’s refusal to approve Israeli bonds. This all contributes to the most important resistance of all, that of the Palestinians who are resisting the IDF in Gaza, which is of course a form of resistance we don’t get to hear about because the corporate media won’t carry that kind of story plus Israel has now murdered at least 278 journalists since 7/10.



The solidarity campaign continues in the UK with a national demonstration in London tomorrow, Saturday 6th, assembling at Russell Square at 12 noon.



Free, free Palestine!

https://bdsmovement.net/

https://palestinecampaign.org/

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/

https://www.foa.org.uk/

https://events.pfbuk.com/

https://cnduk.org/

https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform

https://www.yourparty.uk/

https://greenparty.org.uk/