Debate: Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism

good evening everyone and welcome everyone and echoing hannah's apologies for starting a little late. It is fantastic to see such a full room for this

debate

and the motion for our

debate

tonight. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. There is so much meaning locked in those words, meaning that spans centuries and meaning that reaches into the lives of millions of people today anti-Zionism anti-Semitism these terms are very fraught anti-Zionism often defined as opposition to the existence of a state of a Jewish state in the territory defined as the historical land of Israel or Palestine I will repeat that it is often defined as opposition to the existence of a Jewish state in the territory defined as the historical land of Israel or Palestine anti-Semitism most frequently defined as hostility, prejudice or discrimination against Jews, polls now suggest that Israel is one of the most hated nations in the world along with Iran and North Korea, but to what extent is this due to the policies of the Israeli state and to what extent Is it a cover for old age?

Jew hatred, these are the issues we will be looking at this afternoon, so let's turn to our first speaker on the motion, Melanie Phillips, journalist, broadcaster and author. She has a weekly column in the Times newspaper. She writes for the Jerusalem Post and the Jewish Chronicle. Melanie, the word is yours, ladies and gentlemen, I never visited Israel until the year 2000 and I never wanted to go there, it didn't seem like the kind of place that had anything to offer me, so when in the year 2000 I objected like it's a matter of pure rationality and justice that, while Israelis were being blown to pieces in buses and cafes during what was called the second intifada, they were called Nazis for dealing with the perpetrators, I was shocked that I was immediately attacked as a Jew and immediately accused.

The dual loyalty of being too Jewish and waving the shroud of the Holocaust to clean up Israel's crimes. Well, I think the same pattern can be seen in Labour's current crisis over anti

semitism

, which combines antisemitic motives with global Jewish conspiracies. with attacks on israel at a meeting, jeremy corbyn noted that two zionist opponents in the audience, despite having lived in this country for a long time, do not understand the english irony using the slur that, as british jews, they did not really belong . In Britain, the Palestine solidarity campaign is riddled with anti-Semitic comments such as that the Bataclan massacre in Paris was a false flag operation to increase support for Israel or that Kristallnacht was instigated by communist Jews and Freemasons to promote war. against Germany, today a German New Zealander.

The Nazi group has linked itself to the BDS movement and has approvingly noted its efforts to isolate the aggressive Zionist state in defense of the rights of the Palestinian people. The language of BDS and the far right is interchangeable. Those who say that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism would have done so. We believe that all this is simply a coincidence, I say that it is not and that anti-Zionism is arming anti-Semitism and that is why let us first define what we are talking about, what Zionism is, nothing more nor less than the self-determination of the Jewish people in its ancient homeland of israel, what is anti

semitism

? as an obsessive and unhinged narrative based entirely on lies that accuses Jews of crimes in which they are not only innocent but the victims hold them to standards no one else expects of them and depicts them as a global conspiracy of unique malice and power .

The amazing anti-Zionism has exactly the same the same characteristics don't get me wrong the criticism of Israel's policies the forceful criticism is totally legitimate but anti-Zionism is different anti-Zionism demonizes dehumanizes and delegitimizes Israel to bring about its destruction you may hear some of this slanders tonight the lie for example that Israel is an apartheid state when Israeli Arabs have the same civil and religious rights the lie of ethnic cleansing when the Arab population in the disputed territories has more than quadrupled since the rebirth of israel in 1948 the lie that Israelis are willing murderers of children when in fact they do everything possible to avoid killing civilians in their always defensive wars and when the ratio of civilians to combatants that Israelis kill is at least three or four times better than any other country, including Britain, the lie of Israel's human rights violations when it is the only country in the Middle East where Muslim and Christian Arabs, women and homosexuals can live in freedom and security.

Fundamentally, anti-Zionism is based on the big lie that the Jews seized and occupied other people's lands, but history and the law show that is completely false, the Jews. They are the only indigenous peoples existing in the land of Israel. Their kingdom was expelled more than three thousand years ago when it was occupied. They maintained a continuous presence on the land under the waves of colonialism. A Syrian Roman, Abbasid, and Mamluk, and Ottoman. They reestablished their state in 1948 and are still fighting Arab colonialism. The 1922 Palestinian mandate that divided the former Ottoman Empire enshrined their right to settle in all that land, a right that remains unchanged in international law.

The law also grants Israel the right. to cling to the land taken from their attackers as long as that land remains the launching pad for attacks demonstrably true, Jews therefore have a full right to live both in Israel and in the disputed territories even though they have always agreed to share it with those Arabs who present a claim. But the Palestinians have refused to share it and have responded to repeated offers of a state of their own with terrorism and war. Israel is the only place where the status of Jewish people makes sense, but anti-Zionism points out that the Jewish people are the only ones who have no rights. to their homeland, of course, many groups aspire to our home now, but israel is not an inspiration, israel is a country, no other real country is marked for the destruction and mass murder that would inevitably follow, no one tells the Kurds, for example, their aspirations for our homeland. the homeland is illegitimate and racist people say that

zionism

is racism because of the big lie that the jews stole the land.

Anti-Zionism therefore uniquely removes Jews from its own history. It is an anti-Jewish slander. Now people say that anti-Zionism cannot be. anti-Semitism because some Jews are anti-Zionists very true but in fact they have always been anti-Semitic Jews karl marx, to name just one who wrote quote the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of humanity from Judaism yes, a small fringe of ultra-Orthodox Jews They campaign against the state of Israel, but still pray every day for the Jews to return to live in Zion free from foreign rule. Their problem is that they think that the return to Israel is premature and should occur under different conditions, so their problem is a matter of time.

What they do not believe is the central doctrine of anti-Semitism that Jews have no right to the land of Israel. israel now a vital distinction must be made between anti-semites and anti-semitism many decent people believe these lies about israel out of ignorance or ideology that does not necessarily make them anti-semites, but the discourse they support is still the current mutation of anti-semitism; Furthermore, by supporting Palestinianism, they are supporting not only anti-Zionism but also anti-Semitism. The real agenda of the palestinians not two states but exterminating israel and replacing it with palestine, as we have been told repeatedly over the years, is based on anti-jewish animus the evidence of this is everywhere mahmoud abbas doctorate in denial of the holocaust his hero worship of the grand mufti of the 1930s in jerusalem al-husseini who made a pact with hitler to exterminate all the jews in the middle east the grotesque nazi-style images of palestine propaganda such as the sermons that claim that Jews are the makers of history who dance and live off the body parts of others there is no global corruption their rabbis did not allow Palestinian claims that Jews are behind 9/11 and that they control media finances communication of the world and US foreign policy this deranged murderous anti-Semitism drives the Palestinian cause, does anyone therefore seriously suggest that the people in this country who support this cause and who say that the Jews were behind the 911 and controlled the finances of the world's media and US foreign policy that this really is just a coincidence and if our opponents this afternoon really believe that anti-Zionism is free of anti-Semitism, will they denounce this Palestinian ? nazi style genocidal jewish hate agenda this is not an academic debate when i grew up in london antisemitism was confined to a few fringe lunatics who were treated as outcasts and has now been legitimized it is not surprising that antisemitic attacks are occurring at record levels and What is so disturbing is hearing our right as Jews to our own people be pointed out as illegitimate and hearing unhinged and obsessive lies and distortions about Israel become the default position of the trendy conversation and then to top it all off , to be told that the claim made by people like me that these are anti-Semitic conspiracy theories is itself a conspiracy raised by the Israeli embassy and we Jews are supposed to be the ones who have no sense of irony English, anti-Semitism in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, always attacks the Jews as a collective, first it attacked us as a religion, then it attacked us as a human race, now it attacks us as a people, as a Jewish collective in Israel, with exactly the same characteristics as Jewish hatred through the centuries, the goal of being free of Jews now takes the form of the goal of being free of the Jewish state anti-Zionists treat Israel as a Jew among nations that must be uniquely vilified, slandered and exterminated , ladies and gentlemen, this is why anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism. thank you melanie so now our first speaker against the motion ilan pape is an israeli historian an anti-zionist activist a professor at the university of exeter has challenged traditional versions of israeli history elaine pappa you have the floor for 10 minutes the equation is that presented to you tonight is both scandalous and ridiculous, if only because it converts all the Palestinians in the world into almost everyone living in the Arab and Muslim world, anyone who considers themselves liberal or left-wing, it converts everyone These people are anti-Semites, while quite a few people who consider themselves Zionists, such as Christian Zionists, are actually anti-Semites, but it is important to question this because it was used to some effect to stifle debate about Palestine in the West.

This accusation is used to prevent politicians known for their long-term support for Palestine from ascending to positions of power by smearing them as anti-Semitic officials. Israel and its supporters around the world hope to bring them down as in the case of Jeremy Corbyn or delegitimize them as in the case of Ilhan Omar in the American Congress, so this is a good opportunity in an appropriate place to say loud and clear that if you are in against Zionism or if you define yourself as me and anti-Zionist, you are not anti-Semitic nor in my case, a Jew who hates himself and my doctors told me that it is an incurable disease and that I would have to live with the rest of my life .

I will make five points, one long and four or five short. Anti-Semitism is old. Ugly attitude that demonizes Jews for who they are and led in the past to horrendous policies of discrimination and genocide. It is still prevalent today and, despite the passing of the years, basically not much has changed. Its origins are deeply rooted in the Christian faith and were adopted more in more recent years by right-wing supremacists and some extreme Islamic groups, anti-Zionism, on the other hand, is a new phenomenon like Zionism and dates back to the 1970s. 1820, when, as you know, Zionism began as a Christian project before it was Jewish. project and was then part of an internal debate within evangelical Christianity anti-Zionism was then a moral position against romantic nationalism and Christian fundamentalism that today we call Christian Zionism Christian Zionism is an evangelical belief that the return of the Jews to Palestine would precipitate the the second coming of the messiah the resurrection of the dead and the conversion of the Jews to Christianity or their roasting in hell now these Christian roasters who are very important are anti-Semites who want to get rid of all the Jews they don't like and get In exchange, the only Jew they want, Jesus Christ, is a double bill, today they are the most important base of President Trump and his ilk and there are the most important Zionists in the United States who provide immunity toIsraeli policies on the ground when Jewish activists and intellectuals adopted Zionism in response to anti-Semitism in the late 19th century their antagonists were mainly other Jews or were Orthodox you who saw a premature return to Palestine as a tempering of the will of God and They considered the replacement of a rich monotheistic religion with the ideologically poor modern idea of ​​romantic nationalism a heresy, so there were definitely no anti-Semites, other Jews believe that supporting universal ideologies such as liberalism or socialism would be the answer and if they had to move geographically from anti-Semitic environments, they preferred to go somewhere.

Furthermore, mainly for the US, but not only for the US, they were also not anti-Semitic when Zionism became a settler colonial movement on the ground with the construction of Jewish colonies in late Ottoman Palestine and during the British mandate, the Palestinian national movement perceived Zionism as an existential threat to the indigenous people of Palestine, a fear once again valid as was the case with the ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine in 198 1948 during the nakba that opposed the Jewish settlers and his plans for the homeland of the Palestinians. Not anti-Semitic but largely anti-colonialist, just as the Algerians opposed the colonization of Algeria, a small group of Jewish settlers became anti-Zionists themselves when they agreed to live within Arab Palestine as guests, but not as colonizers as they were recommended. by Mahatma Gandhi in the 1930s and because of that position he was never honored with a street named after him in Israel, not even a small path or staircase after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, anti-Zionism as an anti-Zionism as a -colonialist ideology continued to influence the vision and strategy of the Palestinian national movement, as manifested in the PLO national charter which calls for the establishment of a secular democratic state in Palestine that respects all three religions in Israel itself the party communist supported almost exclusively by the The Palestinian minority within Israel was not due to communist ideology but because it was the only anti-Zionist party that Israel allowed to exist.

They considered Zionism as an ideology of discrimination in apartheid. which again has nothing to do with antisemitism. In our century, our anti-Zionism is a moral position against Israeli structural violence directed at the Palestinians that is attributed by anti-Zionists like me to an ideology that not only endangers the very existence of the Palestinians, but is also very bad for the Jews living outside or inside Israel. This ideology generates anti-Semitism. Opposing it could bring it down in our century. Anti-Zionism is an academic position. A moral stance and a vision for the future. As an academic position, it frames Zionism as settler colonialism similar to the movement of European settlers who went to America, South Africa, and Australia, encountered indigenous peoples, and expelled them to create new homelands for themselves.

It is a moral position that rejects an ideology that imposes apartheid. system within Israel a military occupation of the West Bank and siege of the Gaza ghetto is a vision for the future of a democratic state for all restoring justice in the land respecting United Nations resolution 194 calling for the unconditional return of Palestinian refugees expelled in 1948 and since then Akbar This may be a utopian vision but it is not anti-Zionist or anti-Semitic or three For those who claim that anti-Zionism is a refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist, we should say that states do. They do not exist by right, they are, they are based on historical processes and become a complete feta, the debate is about the nature of the State and the regime that we all have the right to desire and work for a better, more just and equal State for all those living in Israel in Palestine and for those who were expelled from there four in 1975 a large majority of the member states of the United Nations challenged Zion defined Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination was approved with the same majority that passed the 1947 resolution recognizing Israel the difference was that in 1947 the colonized world was not represented in the united nation in 1975 was when it was still trying to find its way in the postcolonial world third world discourse equated Zionism with continued colonialism unfortunately neoliberalism corruption and the postcolonial politically and postcolonial political system corruption in the postcolonial political system and aggressive American imperialism have left this impulse and energy aside from history, but at its peak and within it , anti-Zionism was part of the colonized people's desire to build a better world. and a more just world again nothing to do with anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism when the 1975 resolution was revoked in 1991 the debate on Zionism entered a new phase in its current phase after the horrible events of 9/11 and the Israeli Hasbro's so-called war and terror invented the threat of a new anti-Semitism.

This was the only way to repel the moral indignation that people around the world felt towards the policies of incremental genocide in the Gaza Strip and the brutal oppression in the West Bank, if you express criticism against this. He was described as a new anti-Semite and Israeli academia was recruited to provide academic scaffolding for such an accusation. Western elites bought or were intimidated into buying this false accusation, but civil society and particularly the younger generation reject this attempt with disgust. to silence them, they know enough to call their bluff and understand the full meaning of solidarity with the Palestinians, they demonstrate in the streets of their campuses, they enjoy the Palestinians on the ground at personal expense to show how scandalous it is to call the pure fight for anti-Semitic justice if you are anti-Zionist today you are not only standing on a solid moral foundation in condemning this ideology that generates all these crimes, but you are also expressing your disgust at the hypocrisy of the mainstream media and the world academic of his government. must not be silenced by false accusations of antisemitism and the British Labor Party must also not be intimidated by cynical media without a moral backbone or sinister legislative efforts that use a justified fight against terrorism to provide immunity to the colonizers and oppressors of Palestine , and finally to the Labor Party. is responsible in many ways for the debate we are having today we all know that the so-called revelation of institutional racism and institutional antisemitism in the Labor party did not begin on the day Corbyn was elected leader but after two attempts to depose him. and I failed, then suddenly the campaign arose.

I know the force of this campaign of intimidation. I faced her myself. It is ugly, unfair and destabilizing, but the proud party with the historic role of defeating fascism in this country in the 1930s should not succumb so easily to false accusations. of anti-Semitism we should finally return to five five sentences let's get back to the conversation and give it priority let's discuss how to stop the destruction of Palestine and the Palestinians that Trump's deal of the century wants to do let's fight against violent bigotry wherever we come across approved racism of all kinds without build a hierarchy of victims and eliminate silly and scandalous equations like the one that titles tonight's event thank you, thank you elaine, etc., to our second speaker of the motion that inet wealth and energy has been a member of the Israeli Knesset for the Party Labor first and then the Independence Party between 2010 and 2013 and has written extensively about Zionism and the floor is his for 10 minutes thank you so it seems we all agree that antisemitism is bad of course there is educated and knowledgeable people.

We are unlikely to be seduced because we know where Nazism leads to Auschwitz and the gas chambers, but anti-Zionism does not seem to be in the same category, it seems well, we have heard here that it is about supporting the Palestinians in their fight for rights. human rights. Educated, well-meaning people might support it, but the anti-Semitism that we all recognized as bad when it began was nothing like where it led, in fact, when you compare the beginnings of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, the similarities are striking. began by creating a new collective designation for the same people that made them different in 19th century secular Europe;

They were no longer Jews but Semites and he never intended to meet anything other than Jews in the Soviet Union who claimed not to notice different religions and peoples. the jews were designated as zionists and today in the west in the uk zionists zios the designation is described as having essential immutable and repugnant qualities in christian europe we were christ killers to the nazis we were an impure race to the soviets we were capitalists and imperialists and today the state of Israel is the maximum violator of human rights it is described as born in sin it is guilty by its very nature of the crimes of racism apartheid ethnic cleansing nazism genocide the designation of the group and the attribution of essential evil qualities the aura of rationality and respectability by trusting in the highest source of authority of a given era religion in pre-modern times science in the modern era human rights in ours the aura of the highest authority is necessary because transformation collective of Jews into a repugnant other requires that one be willing to bend reality, if not ignore it entirely.

Only by appealing to the authority of religious doctrine could all Jews who lived in the 12th century be collectively designated as the murderers of Christ more than a thousand years earlier. Only by appealing to the authority of a perverted science could the very Jews who contributed to European society suddenly be considered to be endangering their racial purity, and only by appealing to a perverted version of human rights could Zionism be designated in Israel. as its great violators only by perverting the idea of ​​human rights can those who in reality were ethnically cleansed from all parts of the Arab world be accused of ethnic cleansing;

Only through that kind of perversion could the people who repeatedly said yes to the partition of the world earth into a Jewish state into a Palestinian state be described as those who stand in the way of a two-state solution and it is only through This perversion that in an era in which the idea of ​​nation is still linked in almost all states to the idea of ​​an ethnicity, a common historical language and remains of the religion of Israel is pointed out as exceptionally deviant, but why do all that effort to select a group and distort reality because humans have a primordial need for scapegoats and for some reason my people have We have been the scapegoats designated by so many and for so long for medieval Christianity.

We were between a brutal and unpleasant world and salvation for Germany for Europe. We stood between them and glory by stagnating. We stood in the way of communist utopia. And today, why bother fighting colonialism? After this, it is easier to designate the Zionists as colonialists and blame them. Why do the hard work of fighting racism and its multiple manifestations in all societies? It is easier to designate Zionism as racism and apartheid and blame it. Human rights points to Zionism in Israel as its biggest rapist and blames it, but the problem with human scapegoating is that unlike ancient animals, humans might be a little more resistant to their sacrifice and we can't allow that. happen, so steps must be taken to reduce it. their resistance how to strip them of their defenses push them to the margins step by step take away what protects them but it must be done gradually antisemitism did not begin by stripping the Jews of their citizenship, confiscating their property and pushing them into ghettos, it began by slowly expelling the Jews of the positions they were able to achieve after several decades of European emancipation, operated by making it increasingly difficult for Jews to feel comfortable in European society.

Anti-Semitism also attracted Jews to abandon their defenses that prevented them from organizing. against the coming danger by telling them that if they were the good type of Jew, for example in Germany, those who fought for Germany in the First World War would be saved, they did not realize how anti-Zionism operates now, their main objectives are two places where Jews have organized most effectively for their defense, the state of Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, the legitimacy of both is implacable and singularly questioned, Jews now designated as Zionists are increasingly expelled ​from certain spaces Jewish students in the United States are slowly withdrawing Out of theuniversities known for their virulent anti-Zionism Liberal Jewish activists are finding that they are increasingly less welcome in progressive circles.

Jews here in Britain are realizing that they can no longer be in the Labor Party, their traditional political home, wondering if they will one day have to leave. The country's anti-Zionism also attracts Jews to abandon their defenses. We hear it here. Why don't we all live together in one state? Yes, we know that nowhere in the Arab world have Jews been treated as equals and been ethnically violent. cleaned up when they dared to raise their heads, yes we know that binational states certainly in this region, but not only do they descend into bloody chaos, but we assure you that this will work, just give up your insistence on having your own state where you control your defense, the anti-Zionists too.

They will insist on their respectability. They will try to convince you that the fact that the targets of this new form of virulent hatred bear a striking resemblance to those who were targets in earlier times is purely coincidental. They will insist that the fact that the charges against this group. they seem like variations on the old themes of antisemitism, it's purely coincidental, they might even convince you that they are fighting antisemitism, but the old, easy to identify type, which we already know, is bad and this is where it all comes together in the past waves . Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism did not arise from something that those who were hated actually did, but rather it arose from a crisis in the society of those who hate and in an era of crisis, especially an identity crisis in which we are no longer sure of who we are.

They are what we defend, we desperately need certainties and there are few greater certainties in this world than that the Jews did it and that is why the Zionists are designated as a collective group that coincides with the group previously known as Semites and Jews who are then Se They are ascribed the most repugnant qualities of our time by appealing to the great authority of our age and then slowly subjected to a process designed to strip them of the means to resist their ultimate role in escaping the vote for the crisis of the age and when that process would be complete, the scapegoat could finally be sacrificed in the vain hope that by doing so, a better world with a marriage will never be made and that is why the topic of this debate is not just another issue, but rather raises the very specter that we could be a society on the brink and that is why we are here today in the hope that some of you will see the deep and insidious underlying currents so that this time we do not have to wait to see where anti-Zionism leads and only then look look back in retrospect and say ah yes, that rising tide of anti-Zionism was indeed the new form of anti-Semitism and thanks to our last speaker, who is our second speaker against the moving media.

Hassan Media is a journalist, broadcaster, prominent critic of Israel, anchor for Al Jazeera English, and US Online columnist. magazine the interception perhaps the word is yours for 10. ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed tonight a deeply cynical proposal, uh, deliver a farago of straw men, distortions, deviations, false accusations and, of course, direct propaganda for Israel and then listen to Melanie Phillips come here again. and defending gay rights in Israel to defend Zionism was worth the admission ticket in itself, so let's be clear about what this motion is tonight because it is the motion that everyone has to vote for in good conscience, the motion says quote. anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism does not say that some anti-Zionists are anti-Semites which is true does not say that anti-Zionism can sometimes turn into anti-Semitism which is true does not say that anti-Semites often use anti-Zionism as an excuse for their intolerance and racism which is true true, I wouldn't oppose any of that, but that's not what the motion says, the motion says in a ridiculously offensive and radical way that historically anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism that simply opposing Zionism is a political ideology, remember, it is inherently , by definition, ipso facto anti-Semitic, which is absurd, think about the implications of voting for that tonight, you would be saying that every anti-Zionist, every anti-Zionist, is a bigot, a racist and an anti-Semite by definition, even the many Jewish and Israeli anti-Zionists, so Elam, a Jewish historian born and raised in Israel, served in the Israeli army, is an anti-Semite, that's what they want you to believe, that's what they want you to vote for tonight, so it's former speaker of israel's own parliament knesset melody avraham berg would say he is a self-hating jew just like my interception colleague naomi klein acclaimed author and climate change activist noam chomsky is too he It is also anti-Semitic they want you to make him vote for them and say that the thousands of ultra-Orthodox ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist Jews who oppose Zionism for religious theological reasons are also anti-Semitic, that is what they want, that is what they ask them to vote for tonight, it is absurd and it is a historical, don't take my word for it, listen to the 35 leading Israeli Jewish scholars and historians of the holocaust who met just a few months ago and published an open letter in which they wrote and I quote many victims of the holocaust who opposed Zionism.

On the other hand, many anti-Semites supported Zionism, it makes no sense and inappropriate to identify anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism end of quote, are they also anti-Semites? In reality, the 35, by the way, in terms of the history they refer to in their letter it is an undeniable and indisputable fact that many European anti-Semites, as ilan alluded to, supported Zionism from the beginning and embraced the founder of Zionism, theodore herzl, because for their own selfish racist reasons they shared his goal of treating jews as separate foreigners. nation and remove them from Europe take British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration in favor of Zionism, Balfour dismissed the Jews as a foreign and hostile people, sponsored legislation to keep refugees jews outside the uk, the only jewish member of the cabinet at the time said edwin samuel montague opposed the balfour declaration and called

zionism

a mischievous political creed, but apparently agreed with tonight's proposal montague is the anti-semite and balfour is not that the madness you are going to vote for tonight this motion is not just a historical fact not only absurd not only offensive it is a distraction it is a dangerous distraction from the very real and murderous anti-semitism that is on the rise and that does not comes from the left neither from anti-Zionists nor from the BDS movement as Melanie would have us believe, but from a resurgent far-right In Germany, according to official figures in 2017, nine out of ten anti-Semitic hate crimes were carried out by far-right groups or neo-nazis.

I live in the US. Two attacks on synagogues in the US. In the space of six months, twelve innocent Jewish worshipers were murdered in cold blood by far-right white nationalists, and yet tonight's proposal, from both the Netanyahu government and the Trump administration, wants you to ridiculously believe that the threat to the Jews right now is the real rise of the new anti-Semitism comes from the anti-Zionists of the BDS movement of the Palestinians and not from the extreme murderous right, when the irony is that Netanyahu, prime minister of the only Jewish state in the world, has been flirting with some of the worst anti-Semites on the right. who are also proud Zionists, let's be clear that many of today's most prominent influential right-wing anti-Semites donald trump victor orban steve bannon are not anti-Zionists, they are hardcore far-right Zionists and Netanyahu powers.

I will also address some of the lies we have heard tonight about the adapted proposal that mentioned that it is anti-Semitic to suggest that Israel is born in sin. Every black american i know tells me and everyone else that america was born in sin slavery was a sin at the beginning of the united states no one accuses them of being anti white racists or anti american racists its just a statement of historical fact, They say the proposition that when you oppose Zionism you are denying Jews, and no other, a right to self-determination, which is completely false, not all nations or ethnic groups want a state, get a state, have a state, Ask the Kurds, ask the Catalans, ask the Scots, today there are more than 5,000 ethnic groups in the world, but only 193 member states in the United Nations accept the Druze, an Arab minority ethnic group.

Approximately 100,000 people live in Israel. Do they have the right to self-determination? If they create a state drawn inside Israel, you don't agree with that if you say no. You cannot have a drawn state It is racist towards the Druze National self-determination does not always correspond to statehood Melanie says that it is not racist for the Kurds to aspire to statehood She is right, it is not, but the other side of the coin is also true the British government the US government most EU governments do not support Kurdish statehood does that mean the British government all of us are racist towards the Kurds? the people have legitimate debates about where the state line should be drawn what states should be created how those states exist It is not racism or intolerance to have that legitimate day which it may be, but it is not by definition, the question is not whether Jews deserve a homeland or have a historical connection to the land of Palestine, of course they do, the question is whether those historical and religious claims justify the creation and expansion of a Jewish majority state in which one ethnic group has privileges over another while another group is permanently disenfranchised, dispossessed and subject to endless military occupation, that is what we are here to oppose tonight, nothing more, nothing less, and the proposal has even stopped at Ask what it means to tell that oppressed group, the Palestinian people, telling them that they are either a Zionist, or they subscribe to the ideology of their oppressor, or they are racist, what kind of choice is that Melanie is saying tonight?

The Jewish nationality is racist, it is anti-Semitic and yet it has no problem erasing the Palestinian people from the face of the planet. He said in his speech that only the Jews have a unique right to a nation and a state in and in that part of the world, not the Palestinians what is that is that it is not intolerance it is that it is not racism it is that it does not erase people from the face of the planet but this is what you will vote for tonight if you vote for the proposal this is what the pro-Israel Israelis The argument has always been to silence the Palestinians, to silence their opposition to the occupation, to silence their resistance as Palestinian citizens living inside Israel to a nationalist ideology that treats them as second-class citizens that denies many of the rights and privileges of the majority and One thing I want to make clear to you tonight: you do not have to be anti-Zionist to vote with me and Elaine tonight.

You don't even have to be a critic of Israel. You can be the biggest supporter of Israel in the world. world and vote with the opposition, all you have to be is someone who recognizes that it is an atrocious smear, a naked insult, to attempt to label those of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, who oppose a political ideology of good faith because we think it is unfair. It is oppressively wicked to label us anti-Semites for holding that political view. All it has to be is someone who recognizes that the claim that we hate or oppose Jews simply because we disagree with the idea of ​​a state that privileges one group over another makes us racist, so let me repeat so that Let me be clear that the debate tonight is not about Israel per se, it is not about whether you support or oppose Israel or the occupation, but whether you believe that the proposal has demonstrated that those of us who oppose Israel in its current form that they oppose the political ideology that supports it that we are racist that is the bar that must be crossed tonight it is that simple and I will tell you this for free those of us who value our freedom of expression who do not We want to view anti-Semitism cynically weaponized by supporters of Israel who oppose that ideology of Zionism in good faith and with good reasons.

We will not remain silent at night. We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated. We will not be intimidated. be defamed so that, ladies and gentlemen, join us against this unfair, inaccurate, irresponsible, dishonest, ridiculous, simplistic, broad motion that confuses Judaism, a great and ancient religion, with Zionism, a very modern political ideology, and in doing so, you risk emptying antisemitism of all meaning, ladies and gentlemen, with us tonight oppose this horrible motion thank you, thank you all for listening and thank you to our four panellists for their speeches ofAbsolutely brilliant opening, now it is time to announce the result of the vote taken as they entered and before you have heard a word of those speeches this is the image of how you felt when you entered the room tonight for motion 15 against the motion 59 undecided 26 so I will repeat that the motion obviously anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism for that motion 15 against the 59 percent undecided 26 now we are going to go ahead and have a discussion with the panelists.

I'm going to sit down a little bit so you can see each other and participate a little bit and I want to get back to um. to melanie because we haven't heard from her in a while, we're just going to ask a couple of questions here and then we're going to open it up to all of you on the floor, so melanie, why not? You deal with this accusation from the other side. You are trying to silence a moral position. Well, Mahdi says we produced straw men. It seems like a surreal experience to have listened to it because it distorted everything I had.

He said he went on and on about how we should vote with him because we have said that anyone on that side is anti-Semitic and racist. I'm sure that you, ladies and gentlemen, heard me say very explicitly that I certainly wasn't saying that I make an extremely important distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Semites. I said explicitly that by no means all who support anti-Zionism are anti-Semites by any means. they support anti-semitism they are anti-semites people support things they believe to be true because they are ignorant they are misinformed they are ideological for a variety of reasons I can't see people's souls I am sure that methi hassan and ilan pepe are deeply honorable men I would I'm not trying to say what they think or what their motivation is.

I do not mean to say that people who support anti-Zionism and who would like to deprive the Jewish people of their right to live in their own homeland are anti-Semitic. I'm saying something different. I am saying that the speech is fundamentally anti-Jewish. Why not? Because Israel, only Jews have the right to a state in the land of Israel. Mehti says. I said I certainly didn't say that you ladies and gentlemen will. You have heard me say explicitly and in terms that the Israelis have always agreed to share the land with the Palestinians, which is why they have been offered a state of their own in 1936, in 1947 and repeatedly in the 2000s and in their The response has been the offer of its own state that lives in peace and harmony alongside the Jews of Israel.

Their response has been terrorism and war. I'd love to see that happen. A state of Palestinian Arabs living side by side. I do not do it. I don't think it's going to happen, but that's another story, but it's just a perverse lie to sit here and grotesquely reverse what I said, Melanie, okay, we heard that now Ilan is coming to you and you talked about the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. I heard someone say that Jews have not been equal in the Arab world anywhere, so who is doing the ethnic cleansing? Do you accept that point?

Oh, I take the point that after the creation of the State of Israel, the Jews of Iraq were expelled from Iraq under an agreement between the Israeli government and the Nuri government because Zionism did not want the Jews of Iraq to remain in Iraq and the Iraqi nationalist government didn't want them there either, but this has nothing to do with what we are talking about, we are talking about the fact. that half of the Palestinian population in nine months was ethnically cleansed by Jewish and Israeli forces 500 out of 1,000 villages were demolished razed to the ground 11 Palestinian cities were forcibly depopulated this was not immigration this was not a call as in the case of the jews in north africa by a new jewish state to the jews and come and stay with us it is better for you to be a jew, a moroccan jew in israel than a moroccan jew in morocco, this is a different story.

Here we are talking about a crime against humanity that was committed in nine months in 1948 and that does not exist. another definition for this, otherwise why would half the population of Palestine become refugees if they were not forcibly expelled by a settler colonial movement? So you have raised these points and you already address the point about the inequality of Jews in the Arab world that I can deal with. First of all, Jews were treated in the Arab world much better than they are said to have been in the Christian world much better, much better, and especially in countries like us.

Can we talk here please, especially in countries like Iraq in Egypt in Morocco until the rise of Zionism the Jews were in positions of power the Jews lived a rich and religious secular life and all this fabric that was maintained for centuries was first destroyed by the Zionist ideology that all the Jews in the Arab world who do not belong to the Arab world and by a reaction of fanatical Arab nationalism that says "okay, then you have to decide if you are Zionists or Jews" okay, thanks for this story, right , we move on. Can you deal with the media point please? that you and melanie are suggesting that every anti-Zionist is more than a racist that this is a naked insult that it's such a simple rhetorical trick that it makes things sound so extreme so outrageous and then people say oh, that's not what we wanted to say, that's not where We think the motion is very clear and again, this is not an academic debate.

The issue here tonight is not just anything, any policy, it is about people's lives here and today, in fact, in the United Kingdom, in the West, anti-Zionism has become the bright and respectable way. of being anti-Semitic because we have already done it and the reason people want to separate them is because they need the cover of respectability to continue gaining adhesion. If you knew it was anti-Zionism, you would reject it because it is anti-Semitism. reject it because you would know where it leads, but as long as it is presented to you as something rational and remember that anti-Semitism at the beginning also seemed rational, it also had the support of elites, it thrived in universities, no one thought it would lead to where it led because that's how It gained the support of people who thought it was different, that it was new, and this is what we are seeing, we are seeing a concerted effort to maintain the respectability of that position so that the process of lowering our defenses can continue.

Thanks for that um and maybe one for yourself can you address melanie's point? the distinction between anti-Semite and anti-Semitism the suggestion that there is a discourse that was fundamentally entered into you know I can't deal with that you would have to ask me because it doesn't make sense to me the idea that you can say the idea I'm sorry when we talk about academics in real life let's move away from universals with respect to enthusiasm the idea that you say let's all vote tonight the anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism and then I say I'm anti-Zionist and you said but you're not anti-Semitic, that doesn't make sense.

Capitalism is something that you say you are a capitalist. I mean, this is pedantry. trying to pretend that you can go after the ideology but not the people who identify with that ideology, it's absurd to say that, by the way, anat mentioned that it's a rhetorical trick, doing that, which is a nice line, but then she literally In the next sentence he went on and said: Unless my ears deceive me, anti-Zionism has become a brilliant and respectable way of being anti-Semitic, so I am an anti-Semite who is using anti-feminism in a brilliant and respectable way, right?

Why not just come out? and say it I don't know why you're hiding it call me an anti-Semitic is it you oh my God I'm an anti-Semitic because I say I'm an anti-Semitic I know you're not Melanie are all Palestinians are anti-Semitic because they're all anti-Zionists just say it, be brave, say it well, let's open this to the full now, unless you want to respond in it absolutely to the people who think that only Jews have no right to be masters of their destiny who want us to once again be powerless to go back to how we used to be there is only one name for that I am not making it personal but yes, today I am here precisely to fight against the veneer of respectability that anti-Zionism has because I do not want to wait to see where it leads people waited too long thinking that anti-Semitism in Europe was scientific it was respectable we know where took that I don't plan to wait, we have I heard that right, it's time to hear from all of you now, so there are ushers with Mike, I should say, please raise your hand, go ahead and then in a moment we will take the second vote, so Let's have number one and number two and let's go in that order first thank you, thank you and my question is for Melanie.

I think you're great too, so thanks for everything and we know where your loyalties lie when you ask your question. Long story short, I'm 19 years old. I go to Kings and I study religion, philosophy and ethics and I studied Judaism. I'm a Muslim but I chose to study Judaism and I read Arthur Crystal's 13th Tribe of Israel and he says um Ashkenazi. The Jews were a European race that converted in two days. Can we have the questions? Yes, so my question is: Do you think there are some Jews living in Israel who are originally of European descent?

Not as you say, they were historically the most historical people. Have you ever lived in the land of Israel or do you think that's just another lie? Hold that thought. We will have question number two. Please a question for Mehdi and Melanie, the newly elected MP for Peterborough. Lisa Forbes has been branded in some quarters as an antisemite because she, in part, because she signed a letter um objecting to certain examples in the ihra definition of antisemitism, what do you think about this? Thanks for that, okay, let's deal with those questions first, so, so, Melanie, can you do it? briefly with the first question, the story, um, so I didn't really understand the question, I'm really sorry, um, I didn't really understand what you were talking about.

If you said that some Jews are not Jews, your point is that they? You're not converting Europeans, you were saying that Jews are the most likely to be the oldest people who have lived there the longest historically, but some Jews have converted from European Christians to Jews, so they weren't actually the longest people who lived there because they used to live in Europe, okay, so maybe the Palestinians were the longest people who ever lived there because they used to live in Europe, okay, can we just have a quality quick answer? um uh, the simple answer to your question is that the Jewish people are the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national kingdom several hundred years before Islam was invented and the Arabs invaded and that is the point I was making: they are the only people for whom Israel is their national kingdom the fact that some Jews because many Jews have not lived there is evidently true, but that is not the point at which the Jews have right to the land of israel because that is their ancient historic homeland that they were dispossessed of by waves of colonial invaders and that they have returned from colonialism and that some people think that they really shouldn't be able to do so, that is the point I wanted to make, okay, thanks for that, we're not going to spend.

More time in the deep story right now, getting to the Peterborough question, made me do it with who we are. We were asked for opinions on the letter, yeah, I don't know about the letter, I do know that she, I mean, I don't live here so I don't follow labor politics as much as I used to, but I know that Lisa Forbes liked a post on Facebook that was referring to Theresa May's Zionist slave agenda or some similar formula, in my opinion, which is clearly anti-Semitic she has her excuses she says she didn't read the text she was trying to support a video that was in solidarity with the victims of New Zealand everyone knows their own thing, believe it or not I don't know Lisa Ford.

I don't know anything about her, all I can say is that statement that Theresa May has a Zionist, er, slave agenda, she's clearly anti-Semitic, it's where quote-unquote anti-Zionism becomes anti-Semitism. I think I opened my speech by considering I have never denied that you answered that question, number four, can we please stand up? I am sorry, thanks. Can we have some questions for our other two speakers? Now speakers, uh, for the motion I would like to ask you, uh. to comment on nagba and how you think Palestinians should deal with the consequences of naga thank you, thank you and um down on number one, I'm going to take a couple all together to get over a few more that we're running out of.

It's time to paraphrase brett stevens and peter beinert. Anti-Semitism is anti-Zionism, it's not anti-Semitism, but it might as well be in practical terms, but we're dealing with a lot of semantics here and my question is, uh, I. I'm having a bit of an identity crisis. I'm Jewish. I'm a Zionist. I'm deeply concerned about 1948. I wouldn't call it ethnic cleansing Mr. Pape. It was a strategic choice that we have to make. Well, it was a strategy because it's a working time. My question is why are we doing this? It's almost masturbatory you should forgive the expression what is the solution we are all thinking kind people what is itthe solution who is your question for everyone okay I'm going to ask that one so one can be for ilan um what is the solution and we had I was upstairs I think someone up here yes we were going for yes number three please hello I just want this to be a question for the opposition why is israel singled out as a violator of human rights in the united nations by the labor party and by many other entities compared to so many egregious violators of human rights, including in the middle east, why What is constantly pointed out that it is not a form of antisemitism, thank you for thanking you?

You for asking the question, that's great, so ayna, first I want to hear from you on the question of nagwa, which is, who would like to define nakba? The best for us, you are the historian, give us the historical definition in the sentence, yes. It is an ethnic cleansing operation that was a systematic expulsion of the Palestinians with the aim of de-Arabizing Palestine and creating a Jewish state on its ruins in 1948, but well, thank you, no, no, it is important to say that the nagba continues because only 50 of the people were expelled and only 80 percent of the land was taken the nakba continues every day in gaza in nablus in the galilee in the nakab and we should have a discussion about the destruction of Palestine and not about the nonsense that we're listening here tonight Obviously, this is the Palestinian term for what happened in 1948, it means catastrophe and I'm not sure if you accept that definition that we just heard from Milan, but face it anyway, that's not a definition, it's well, but the story is very simple, the Arabs. of the land, the Palestinians could have had their own state over and over again, they could have had it on half the land, on 80 percent of the land, but every time they were told, you can be masters of your destiny partly. of the earth but in another part the Jews will be masters of their faith they will no longer be inferior to you they will no longer submit to you their choice again and again up to the present it has been to fight for everything they have said again if we have to live next to Sovereign Jews better fight until they disappear and I will say it again when they fight against us three years after a genocide and wage a genocidal war telling us that we have no right to defend ourselves, then we will fight.

You come back, we will defend ourselves sometimes we have nothing, um, maybe why Israel is singled out. Yes, I don't accept the premise of the question, obviously, it's interesting, you should say that it points to Israel. There's a little r that comes out right if you're watching this. on youtube, go back to youtube and see that the first smart square debate I did was not about israel. I came here a few months ago to talk about the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its human rights abuses, so before I even showed up for Israel, I came. condemn saudi arabia and so on, and I understand this, I understand it, there are many UN resolutions that condemn, so I understand it, but if you look at the actual practical sanctions, there are no sanctions against Israel by Western countries for human rights abuses.

Syria, there is against Russia, there is against Iran, there is against North Korea, so no, I don't think Israel is being singled out. In fact, I would like to see sanctions imposed on Israel so that it is treated like other human rights violators. Consistency, single standards, right, right. If we have, I want to give everyone on the panel a chance to answer the question that we had from down here, which is what is the solution, so a moment of optimism, but literally just a moment, every Melanie, can you say both first sentences please? Uh, what's the solution?

It depends on what the problem is. If you define the problem in the Middle East as a competition between two people with land rights over the boundaries of that land, then you will end up precisely where we are, but in my opinion. that is not the situation at all the real situation is different if you want a solution to the real problem you have to stop the 100 year attempt to exterminate israel as a nation-state of the jewish people and exterminate the right of the jews to live in israel as their own sovereign country, that is the situation in the Middle East, however, you would like to rephrase it, that is the problem, if you want a solution, you must stop the people who are trying to commit a genocidal attack on the right of Jews to live in his own country once again you have the solution thank you elan what is the solution if you could give me two sentences I would appreciate that the only viable solution is to change a reality between The Jordan River and the Mediterranean now have 12 million people, 6 million Palestinians without human rights or civil rights and six million Jews with all the privileges in the world.

Only a State that guarantees equal rights for everyone, regardless of nationality, religion, race or gender. the only solution and the return of the refugees who have been expelled yes, because the region is known for having many such states, the only answer is for the Arab world to finally say something very simple, welcome home, accept us as an indigenous people who are on their land to accept us as equal claimants to the land, not exclusive or superior, but people have the same right to ultimately be masters of our destiny on the land that belongs to us in part of the land alongside the Arabs who will be masters of their destiny in part of the earth is the only way to live together, it is fine and it always amuses me that he has not made a single crack in his speech and now that we know what the binational states in the Middle are like East, it always amuses me when Israelis say this because last time I checked, 20 of the Israeli population are Palestinians, so it's already a binational state, we just want to give the Palestinian part of that state the same right every year, The Arab parliamentarians, the Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Knesset almost every year presented a bill to turn Israel into a state for all its citizens and every year the speaker of the Knesset, who did it last year, will not allow it not even make it to the deliberation room, so tonight I ask Aina Melanie if she supports Israel. for all its citizens because I do we can call it Israel call it whatever you want but just give it one state for all its citizens state of all its no it's not in fact they literally blocked a bill the supreme the supreme court blocked the bill for make it a state of all its citizens, you know you are a former member of the court, okay, you both have expressed your opinion on the matter.

Right now we are going to make our final statements. of our speakers on the panel summarizing the speeches that will be delivered sitting down and that will last no more than two minutes, in fact, do you know what the four of you would do if you could keep them very tight if you could reduce them to less than two minutes, I would appreciate it if we went in order reverse, so maybe you first ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't voted yet, I want you to think about two groups of people when you vote, who is this crude cynic against? the motion is so important, so crucial, so personal, the first group of course is the palestinians because if you vote for the motion tonight you are saying that despite melanie and anat's best attempts to try to play this , you know, it's ideology versus adherence.

We're saying we all have to be Zionists, otherwise we're racist, we're bigots, we're anti-Semitic, which doesn't seem like it would be the end of the world to me. Well, I'll be a Zionist if you want me to be a Zionist, I mean, I almost voted liberal once. I'm fine with labels, but asking Palestinians to not only accept their dispossession, their ethnic cleansing, their ongoing occupation, but also call themselves Zionists or else is outrageous. The Palestinians cannot be asked to do so. They simply can't be Zionists and by the way, if they say it's racist to oppose Zionism, well, it's racist to ask Palestinians not to oppose their own occupiers and look, if you don't care, Palestinians still vote against the excitement tonight because there is another group of people who you will throw under the bus if you vote for this motion anti-zionist jews people like Elan like my colleague naomi like noam chomsky probably haredi and with one radical movement you risk throwing all of these people under the bus Jews who oppose Zionism in good faith we have not talked about it today not once the proposal recognized that we might have good reasons for our opinions that we are not all trying to hide behind what was and said the brilliant respectability of the new anti-Semitism do not label all those people who fight for human rights who fight in good faith as racists, as Jews who hate themselves, as anti-Semites for the sake of a political ideology, do not do it, do not do it in any way. your views on israel-palestine vote with the opposition tonight against this ridiculous and dishonest offensive motion and now your final statement for the motion i doubt there is much good faith here and i have to say if zionists like me can support the palestinians self-determination I see no reason why the opposite should not also be asked, but I want to take this opportunity to get back to the basics, to the big picture, a reminder about what is really happening in the mechanism, remember that the first step They are the Zionists. they are designated as a collective group coinciding with the group formerly known as Semites and Jews step two then the most repugnant qualities of our time are attributed to them step three it is done by appealing to the highest authority of the age step four and this is where we are now They are slowly being subjected to a process designed to strip them of their defenses but today we are told and asked to believe that this time the Jews are sorry the Zionists are really to blame the Germans and the Europeans believe all too sincerely that the Jews The Semites were really the culprits, but we now know that anti-Semitism arose from a deep crisis in society and that it was the culprit after all these patterns and ways of thinking about my people have existed for millennia and yet they become particularly useful in times of crisis. and in fact we are once again a species in crisis, technology questions our own intelligence in humanity, extreme weather undermines our confidence in our control, inequality undermines our ideal progress, our leaders or lack thereof leave us without the feeling that there is a firm hand at the helm and in times of crisis we desperately long for certainties and there are few greater certainties in this world to cling to than that the Jews are to blame as a society.

We can get out of our crisis, but only if we ask ourselves how we can all do better instead of who. He is to blame and I think we can all do better. Thank you. We have heard a lot about Zionist ideology and the idea that the land of Palestine is the land of Israel. Whenever you hear it, think of someone coming to you in the middle of the night. in London and tells you that I lived in your house two thousand years ago and that's why the house belongs to me and the next day they come with the police and the next day and the next day they come with the police who say that they have a right that you have to give them half of their house Zionism was a settler colonialist movement fleeing persecution but wanted as much of Palestine as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible, this was the goal of Zionism in the late 19th century. century this is the goal of Zionism today we all have the right to go through the same process that happened in South Africa we have the right as Jews and as Palestinians to live in a democratic state where everyone is equal and to stop and reject an ideology that claims that some people are equal and others not, I ask this for the good even of Jewish communities around the world, because settler colonialism in Israel will get worse as the century progresses, for the good of the people who live here and for the good of the people who live there have the right to have the same kind of democracy that everyone else has without boris johnson thank you, thank you elaine and melanie well, I'm really sorry that mehdi can't understand my distinction, it's very simple, my point is simply this is that people of good faith sometimes swallow blatant lies because they believe them to be true and we have heard this afternoon that some of those lies come from the other side; falsehoods about Israel that are believed to be true, for example, suggest that Israel is not a state of all its citizens that Arabs somehow do not have full equal rights he calls them Palestinians perhaps mexi also does not understand that around 20 of Israel's population They are Israeli Arabs Israeli Arabs have total equal rights you can see them in the Israeli parliament you can see them in the Israeli courts you can see them in Israeli universities what does meshti say what when he says that that that he wants a state of all his citizens he wants a state of Israel that is no longer Israel, that is is not a Jewish state, so the British can have Britain, the French can have France, the Americans can have America, but the Jews can't have Israel, I would say that that is discriminationabsolute.

Ilan says it's his house, in whose house there were dozens and dozens of different nationalities in the mandate. Palestine, the Arabs came in large numbers because the Jews were returning and they rightly thought they would bring prosperity. In conclusion, let me return to this: the proposal under consideration is anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism. Mehti says that not everyone can have a state that is absolutely correct, but the reason this is a form of anti-Semitism is the unique nature of the animosity against Zionism. Jews are the only people who live in their own historical homeland and who are considered to have no right to that homeland and whose right to self-determination in that homeland that is theirs by right is illegitimate and racist, that vile, intolerant and malicious animosity is unique against Israel and that is why anti-Zionism is the only slander against the Jewish people and has exactly the same unique characteristics as anti-Zionism. semitism, thank you all for your summary speeches and that concludes our debate, so now it is time to announce the final vote count and a reminder that our motion tonight was anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, a reminder also that we began the night with 15 in favor of the motion 59 against the motion and 26 undecided after 90 minutes of debate we ended as follows 19 in favor of the motion 76 against the motion and 5 undecided so the motion of this late has been defeated this house does not believe that anti-Zionism Is it anti-Semitism?