Perhaps the tide is turning.....slowly

It is not new that those who speak out about Israel's policies - witness Jimmy Carter amongst others - are immediately denounced and pilloried as anti-semitic, bigots, ignorant, anti-Zionist, wrong-headed, self-hating Jews and any other offensive epithet in the lexicon.

But the tide may be turning! This piece in today's SMH by Antony Loewenstein reveals a change of attitude and approach by some Jews around the world:

"In a recent essay published by the American Jewish Committee, reflecting widely shared attitudes, Jews who criticised Israel and its policies were accused of stirring anti-Semitism. The executive director of the committee said "those who oppose Israel's basic right to exist, whether Jew or gentile, must be confronted".

It is clear, however, that a growing number of concerned Jews in the United States and Britain are no longer staying silent in the face of Israeli policies in Palestine and Lebanon.

A new organisation has just been launched in Britain giving voice to such Jews, for example. Independent Jewish Voices includes prominent British figures such as the historian Eric Hobsbawm and the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. Hobsbawn told the Independent: "It is important for non-Jews to know that there are Jews who do not agree with the apparent consensus within the Jewish community that the only good Jew is one who supports Israel."

Viewing this confronting video may go part of the way in explaining why increasing numbers of right-thinking Jews around the world are saying enough is enough - and that this appalling treatment of Palestinians by Israelis must stop and peace established between the two peoples. It should not be forgotten that June this year sees 40 years of Israeli occuptaion of Palestinian land and people.

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