NM's blog

“Antisemitism and Islamophobia do not compete for a fixed ration of public sympathy.  They are the one prejudice in two coats. Each rests on the same premise that a minority may be judged and feared and shut out for its religion. “Israel’s "Ministry of Subversion" now sits closer to an illiberal, nationalist Europe than to the liberal order that once made Jewish life in the diaspora secure.” Would Andreas Krieg argue that the very same 'liberal order' has made Muslims, Jews and others insecure with its double standards, wars, invasions, hypocrisy, institutional racism, marginalisation, obscene inequality, and because of the very same order that the far right is on the rise …? I doubt it. I emailed him for an answer. 

“[T]he problem begins the moment we assume that a person’s political behavior can be predicted from their religion or culture. He calls this habit of thinking culture talk : the assumption that if someone is Muslim, their politics, morality, and whether they are dangerous or harmless must somehow come from Islam. In this framework, people are no longer judged by what they actually do, but by a label placed on them in advance.”

 Pro-Israeli forces' efforts “ have not been limited to attacking individual activists and groups, universities and media outlets, community organisations and artists, but have also targeted politicians and governments.” Missing from Massad's piece though is Labour Zionism and the earlier evolution of both Zionist socialism and nationalist Zionism.