WEINIGER, Patrick. Australian socialist activist: why Jews should oppose Apartheid Israel
Patrick Weiniger is a Melbourne socialist activist living in Melbourne and a regular contributor to the Socialist Alternative magazine.
Patrick Weiniger, “Why Jews should oppose Israel”, 2009: “Jews internationally have been involved in various struggles against racism. Many Jews in South Africa played a prominent and courageous role in the struggle against apartheid. Activists like Joe Slovo and Ruth First not only criticised apartheid: they sided with the oppressed black population and joined the ANC. Today anti-racist Jews must struggle against the violent apartheid system which defines the state of Israel. To describe Israel in these terms is not hyperbole. The apartheid wall in the West Bank is so named because it imprisons the Palestinians in small, disconnected parcels of land that can never be the basis of a viable state. In South Africa, these "homelands" were called Bantustans. Gaza is another such Bantustan… Zionism - that is, support for a specifically Jewish state in historical Palestine - is a political doctrine. It has never been a necessary or automatic component of Jewish identity. It does not make you a traitor to Jews to oppose the idea of a Jewish state that discriminates against other races and religions. There is nothing anti-Semitic in calling for a secular, democratic state in all of historical Palestine, with equal rights for Jews and non-Jews. Undoubtedly many anti-racist Jews are uneasy about what Israel does. Yet too few of us actually take a stand against Israel.” [1].
[1]. Patrick Weiniger , “Why Jews should oppose Israel”, Socialist Alternative, Issue 137, February 2009: