Jewish anti-Zionist activists from around the world came together over June 13–15 to share experiences on fighting for justice for Palestine.
This is the first Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress, initiated by Jews from all over the world following the Viennese Declaration last December, which declared opposition to Zionism and “the actions of the state of Israel in our commitment to universal human rights, equality, and a just peace in the Middle East”.
The declaration opposed “the marginalization or suppression of Palestinian and anti-Israel voices within Austrian politics”. It said it “unequivocally” stands for “our right to freedom of speech, to freely express our democratic and anti-colonial views without being labelled by some as ‘traitors’, ‘fake Jews’, or ‘self-hating Jews’, and by others as ‘terror supporters’, ‘Israel-haters’, or simply ‘anti-Semites’.”
The signatories pointed to the March 2021 Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which “provides a timely definition of antisemitism that separates legitimate criticism of the state of Israel from hostility or prejudice against Jews”.
The conference workshopped topics, such as how to reclaim Jewish identity from Zionism, separating Jewish culture and religion from Zionism and a dissection of Zionism as a racist, terrorist political ideology. Many of the conference participants have been charged with, or accused of, antisemitism.
Speakers on one panel pointed out they had all spent time in jail at least once for fighting for justice in Palestine.
Longtime Palestine activist Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame, opened the congress. Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, and European MP Rima Hassan, recently released from the Madleen Gaza Flotilla hijacking, also spoke online.
Eventually, a link to a doctor in Gaza was established, with him wishing the congress success and thanking it for its ongoing support. Such humility is beyond words, as Gaza’s doctors and medical staff work with no medicine, anaesthetic or generators. Death, pain and suffering are all around them, and their lives could end at any time. He said they had just lost a patient they had been operating on for 70 hours, due to the lack of oxygen, electricity or a generator; they had worked in shifts to manually pump oxygen.
The congress included representatives from Jewish groups from all parts of Europe, South Africa, Canada, United States, Britain and Norway. Jewish contributors identifying as Egyptian, Iraqi, Tunisian, Lebanese, Syrian and Moroccan shared their experiences of racism against North African Jews by the so-called homeland Israel.
A Moroccan Jew reported on their terrible treatment and discrimination by European Jews. In the first years after the state of Israel was declared, children of Arab Jews and Palestinians were forcibly taken away: about 50,000 children disappeared. The Moroccan participant, and others, who had tried to publicise this injustice were imprisoned for years.
The congress included Holocaust survivors and their children. They discussed the Holocaust genocide that has been claimed by Israel, saying it needs to be redefined, not to diminish the Jewish experience but to encompass the Roma, and not to forget the extermination of communists, unionists, homosexuals and infirm, who were also exterminated in the concentration camps.
A Holocaust survivor said: “We suffered and died in the camps together; to not include them is to only tell part of the story.”
South African Jews spoke about the importance of the sanctions campaign in the struggle against South African Apartheid. The South African Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement is now trying to stop South Africa sending coal to Israel and supplying electricity for the war machine, while Gaza’s power has been cut.
Colombia halted coal exports to Israel in response to Israel’s military action in Gaza. Australia is one of the countries supplying coal to Israel, and a question was raised about whether Australia had taken up the Colombian shortfall.
French unions have had some success in halting the loading of weapons on the way to Israel. The loading operation was then changed to Spain, with unions there doing the same.
Discussion included the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court rulings and whether union members can be complicit in genocide by being a part of the supply chain. Union leaderships often say the right thing, but don’t always reflect it in action, and this needs to change.
Lidón Soriano, representing Red Solidarity against the Occupation of Palestine, reported on efforts in Spain to support Palestinians, sometimes with success in persuading the government to take action against the Zionist regime.
This First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress was sold out, with a limit of 300 attendees. It was a valuable opportunity for global Jewish organisations — which has grown to include New Zealand and Australia — to meet up. The congress organisers believe that the fight against genocide has to come from within Jewish people.
[Visit the Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress for more information.]