Steve Silver "Anti-imperialism of fools"  Searchlight 2003

[Searchlight is the leading anti-fascist magazine in England.]

Antisemitism is enjoying a renaissance. In Britain, attacks on Jewish people or property have increased by 260% over a two-year period; in France, synagogues have been firebombed. The antisemitic upsurge is closely linked to events in the Middle East and opposition to the policies of Israel and the USA and in the main does not come from the traditional right. It has nothing to do with legitimate criticism of Israel's policies and must be distinguished from this. Sometimes the antisemitism masquerades as "anti-Zionism" and other times it is naked Jew-baiting. Anti-racists and anti-imperialists have to root it out 

Werner Cohn, "From Victim to Shylock and Oppressor:
The New Image of the Jew in the Trotskyist Movement"

Journal of Communist Studies (London), vol. 7, no. 1, March 1991, 

After the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, a change took place in Trotskyist positions concerning Jews. The earlier positions saw Jews as one of the oppressed peoples of the world. While the movement has always opposed Zionism, earlier pronouncements routinely coupled this opposition with denunciations of what where seen as anti-Semitic aspects of the Arab nationalist movement. After 1967, most sections of the Trotskyist movement began to characterize the Jews of Israel as an 'oppressor nation' and called for the destruction of Israel. The movement also began to distribute an earlier publication that characterized the Jewish tradition as one of usury.

All Trotskyist groups declare their staunch opposition to anti-Semitism while being hostile to the Zionist enterprise. Most of the groups wish the destruction of Israel and, toward that end, support Israel's most irreconcilable enemies. In theory, most of the Trotskyist groups regard the Jews of Israel as an 'oppressor nation,' but this phrase does not occur very often in the Trotskyist propaganda. Beyond these positions there is a certain ambiguity about the image of the Jewish people. The groups promote and pay homage to the work of Abram Leon. But Leon's specific accusation -- that 'usury' constitutes the central phenomenon of Jewish history, in effect that Jew means Shylock -- is neither explicitly endorsed nor ever repudiated by today's Trotskyist writers.

Ten tips against anti-Semitism

De Fabel van de illegaal 52/53, summer 2002  (http://www.gebladert.nl)  Authors: Eric Krebbers and Jan Tas

Activists wishing to criticise the Israeli state must be careful not to descend into anti-Semitic reasoning. Here are 10 tips to avoid anti-Semitism in discussions, articles, leaflets and demonstrations.


1. Always also criticise Moslim fundamentalists and never justify the suicide bombers.

Hamas, Jihad and Hezbollah are not liberation organisations, but religious fascists. Historically, anti-Semitism is a central element of the Islam, just as it is of Christianity. Moslim fundamentalists call for all Jews to be killed, and are thus extremely anti-Semitic. Anyone who refuses to categorically distance themselves from these fascists and their opportunist methods, whether for anti-imperialist or other reasons, legitimises anti-Semitism. Anyone who ignores the attacks on random Israeli citizens, considers them in some way understandable or justified, is underwriting the anti-Semitic logic behind them, namely that Israeli Jews are always guilty - regardless of whether they agree with their government - just because they are Jewish.

The Stalinist roots of left anti-Zionism, Alliance for Worker's Liberty

In the 1970s the rulers of the USSR launched a sustained “anti-Zionist” campaign, in fact anti-semitic. No surprise. But an examination of the publications from that campaign shows something much more shocking than the fact that the old Stalinist despots were ready to use any sort of reactionary prejudice for their own ends. It demonstrates that much of what many British and international leftists — even Trotskyists — say about Israel is an indirect and unwitting copy of the Stalinists’ efforts at constructing a Marxist-sounding gloss on old anti-semitic themes.

Zionism equals racism; Zionism equals imperialism; Zionism equals South African apartheid; Israel is the USA’s “watchdog” in the Middle East; Zionism is complicit with, or even promotes, anti-semitism — all these themes, now commonplace on the left, were pioneered by the Stalinists.

The Stalinist roots of left anti-Zionism Part 2,  part 2 Alliance for Workers Liberty

The Stalinist account sought to mobilise every sort of sentiment it could plausibly appeal to under “Marxist” colours — anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, anti-Nazism, and even opposition to anti-semitism — against “the Zionists”, by way of portraying “the Zionists” as in cahoots with, or as pulling the strings of, those responsible for all the evils appealed against.

It was in fact tantamount to an updated and Marxist version of the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery concocted by the Tsarist secret police in order to portray Jews as secretly working for, and near achieving, world domination.

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