There can be no surrender to bullying by Zionists and “anti-Zionist” pretenders

From Laura Stuart:

Not the first time that I have felt compelled to write about the phenomenon of outrageous bullying tactics used against Palestine activists and indeed anyone who is prepared to stand up and speak or write the truth about Israeli/Zionist crimes.

There can be no dispute about the fact that Israel – "the Jewish state" as it calls itself –  is a perpetrator of terrible human rights abuses and as a consequence has attracted more condemnations against it from the United Nations than any other country, least of all one which claims to be a democracy and ironically claims it's occupation forces as the "world’s most moral army".

Yesterday I attended the protest outside the Israeli embassy which takes place on the anniversary of the massacre named "Cast Lead". I am sure the many widows, orphans and parents who lost their children in Gaza during that 22-day offensive are enough of a testimony to the occupation forces’ so-called “morals”. The Samouni family, which lost so many members, is a prime and very tragic example. The fact that Judge Goldstone crumbled on his report under Zionist attack is a further testimony to the evil tactics of Zionist bullying and the pressure they can bring to bear.

More about Zionist bullying. It was with great interest that I read an article written by Ilan Pappe on the Electronic Intifada titled "Confronting intimidation working for justice in Palestine". I hope everyone will read the article and start to appreciate the levels of bullying that go on at every level from government down to activists like myself. It is no secret that the US leaders will always shamefully grovel to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and can be counted on to veto any resolution at the United Nations which might force Israel to be held accountable for the consequences of some of its actions. But we do not even need to look overseas; we need only reflect on the fact that 80 per cent of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party MPs are Friends of Israel.

No surprise to anyone who has read Gilad Atzmon's blog detailing the efforts the so-called “anti-Zionist” Jews will go to in hounding anyone who would share a platform with Gilad and the tactics of bullying and harassment involved, which includes being emailed and called repeatedly. Furthermore, any venue provider can expect the same treatment. Even I have been sent anonymous emails of a rather sinister nature and have many emails from such so-called “anti-Zionist” Jews as Tony Greenstein who even finds it somehow appropriate to blog about my clothes and post my photo on his blog describing me as the epitome of a "liberated woman", even though he had never met me and does not know me. You should well be asking what business what I choose to wear is of Tony Greenstein’s? I usually associate such Islamaphobic and fascist views with the likes of the EDL or Sarkozy. Just another example of an attempt at character assassination and bullying.

The list goes on and on. One activist, Nahida Izzat, wrote about the use of character assassination as a political tool after she suffered terribly at the hands of the so-called Jewish “anti-Zionists”. Others have their had their academic careers curtailed, such as Norman Finkelstein. Here on Paul Eisen's blog is a story of how people can be smeared by Zionists and let down by the leaders of the solidarity movement who somehow don't really understand the concept of solidarity. There seem to be absolutely no limits as to how far the Zionists and the self-proclaimed Jewish “anti-Zionists” are prepared to go in their attempts to discredit those who speak out.

Having described the environment in which activists for Palestine and indeed activists for justice against the Zionist/neocon so-called "war on terror" operate and the frequent attacks on them, which can be very damaging both at a personal and career level, I would suggest we need to be very alert and very steadfast in not giving in to Zionist bullying. All Palestine activists should be able to show at least a semblance of the sumoud – or steadfastness –  that Palestinians themselves are famous for.

In particular, organizations that claim to represent the "solidarity" movement of Palestinian activists need to be ever vigilant of Zionist and self-proclaimed “anti-Zionist” attempts to control them from both the inside and out. While I agree that many people are working hard on many different levels to bring justice to Palestine, it would be sad to see our biggest “solidarity" organization fragment as some regional branches choose to go it alone. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and all of us would hate to see a Zionist victory using the old divide and conquer tactic.

Finally to end on a more upbeat note, I can't wait to hear more about the new forum called "deLiberation" which will shake off the Zio chains and take the discourse to new levels.

Alert: Palestine activists beware of Tony Greenstein, Mark Elf and their cohorts

By Nureddin Sabir
Editor, Redress Information & Analysis

Brothers and sisters, comrades in the struggle for justice for the people of Palestine,

This is an urgent warning to beware of the activities of Mark Elf, who runs a blog called Jews sans frontieres, and Tony Greenstein, who describes himself as a “socialist, anti-Zionist, anti-racist”.

Both Greenstein and Elf are highly suspect individuals, pretending to be pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activists but in reality devoting much of their time to distracting genuine fighters for justice for the Palestinian people with endless, tedious and time-wasting arguments that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Israeli occupation, land theft, colonization, the Gaza siege, Zionism or apartheid.

Greenstain and Elf had become incensed by an article written by me and published on Christmas Day (but given the following day’s date, as we do with all articles published after 1800 UK time) in which a number of whistleblowers from some of Britain’s top Zionist institutions spoke of an unprecedented crisis ripping through these institutions. In rantings posted on their respective blogs, Greenstein and Elf questioned the veracity of the article and, in a racist slur against Arabs, Greenstein doubted that an Arab – me – was capable of writing in fluent English.

Among their other scurrilous allegations, Greenstein and Elf claim that the article was written by one of our contributors, Gilad Atzmon, not by me.

Gilad Atzmon is one of a number of regular contributors to Redress Information & Analysis, but he is certainly not the author of the article, which was written by me. It is also me, not Gilad or anybody else, who interviewed the Jewish whistleblowers quoted in our article, Britain’s Jews in crisis over national loyalty, identity and Israel.

For the record, of the 664 articles published to date on Redress Information & Analysis, Gilad Atzmon’s share is 55, or eight per cent of all the articles.

For those who may not be aware, Greenstein, Elf and other like-minded judaeo-centric narcissistic misfits have been endlessly hounding Gilad Atzmon for a number of years because he had dared to question aspects of Jewish culture and identity.

If Greenstein and Elf were sincere in their support for the Palestinian cause, they would have welcomed the fact that whistleblowers from Britain’s top Zionist establishments had plucked up the courage and, at considerable risk to their jobs and personal relationships, chosen to speak to Redress Information & Analysis – an Arab-run website which they trusted would not leak their details back to their institutions. The fact that they did quite the opposite just about sums up the depravity of Greenstein and Elf.

Recently, Greenstein and Elf, acting through one Gerald Joseph Downing, who describes himself as “a Trotskyist bus driver with ambitions to assist in rebuilding the Fourth International and ending capitalism on the planet by socialist revolution”, have been frantically emailing all and sundry calling for a campaign, including one on Facebook, to defend Greenstein and company so that they can continue to protect Israel’s rear by distracting Palestine activists from the core issues related to fighting for justice for the Palestinian people – see our article Israel’s hidden friends ramp up campaign to distract Palestine activists from core issues.

We do not lightly accuse people of being agents of another state so, without hard evidence, we shall refrain from accusing Tony Greenstein and Mark Elf of knowingly acting on behalf of the State of Israel under cover of being anti-Zionists. But what we do know of them is this:

1. They are childish characters who have failed to make the transition from the relatively burden-free world of student politics to the politics of the real world with its duties and responsibilities. To them, this is all an entertaining game.
2. They believe that being Jewish and claiming to be anti-Zionist entitles them to hijack the Palestine solidarity movement and set its agenda.
3. They seek to distract genuine supporters of the Palestinian cause with endless, tedious and time-wasting arguments that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Israeli occupation, land theft, colonization, the Gaza siege, Zionism or apartheid.
   

It is crucially important for everyone in the Palestine struggle to do what they can to neuter Tony Greenstein, Mark Elf and their cohorts politically. They must be politically isolated and ostracized by all who care for the struggle for justice for the Palestinian peope. To engage or cooperate with them in any any shape or form, now or at any time in future, could mean only one thing: they would drag you down to the subterranean hovel they inhabit.

Finally, I repeat what my colleague Salaheddin Ahmad said in the article Israel’s hidden friends ramp up campaign to distract Palestine activists from core issues:

We say this to Tony Greenstein, Mark Elf and anyone else who cares to stoop to their gutter: Palestine is and shall remain at the centre of the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people. We Palestinians and Arabs played no part in your Holocaust and we have nothing to do with anti-Semitism, past or present, real or imagined. It is us, not you, who are continuing to suffer from the legacy of the Nazis. Go forth and take your Jewish issues elsewhere. We shall have nothing to do with you.



And we repeat: if you and others in your camp wish to campaign against Zionism and racism, then we would welcome this and wish you good luck. But do your campaigning in parallel to us, not together with us. We do not and shall never trust you and we shall have nothing to do with you.