This article is based on a speech delivered at a Palestine solidarity rally in Melbourne on 15 October.
As a Jew, I say: “not in my name”. Jews should know better than anyone the horrors of racism, oppression and pogroms, of indiscriminate killing of civilians. Israel does not speak for me, and it does not speak for many Jews around the world.
What has happened in the last week is horrific. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his intention to turn Gaza into rubble. And one Israeli official said: “Gaza will eventually turn into a city of tents. There will be no buildings”.
They’re telling us that Israel wants to bomb and to bomb until nothing remains of Gaza. But this is a strip of more than 2.3 million people. Make no mistake, Israel is announcing its intention to commit genocide.
I am glad to see everyone here take a stand against this kind of crime against humanity. But we also have to stand against slanderous claims on our movement. Because this movement against genocide, against racism, against apartheid—again and again we are told is anti-Semitic; that we are racist because we oppose the state of Israel.
Well I’m here to say: Israel doesn’t represent Jews, and it sure as hell doesn’t represent me.
Read the article by Raphael Duffy in Red Flag.