By Haim Bresheeth-Žabner
The Dublin Congress has a very loaded agenda to discuss and to move from mere debate to political action. (Photo: Supplied)
The debates in Dublin must concentrate on the liberation of Palestine from Zionism and its militarized genocide, indeed, on liberating the whole of West Asia from the monstrosity which Israel has become.
Less than a year ago, the first Anti-Zionist Congress met in Vienna for three days of debates and discussion, in the very city that in February 1896 Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat, the small volume which started the development of political Zionism which led to the Zionist movement, and the settler-colonial state of Israel, now involved in fully-fledged genocide, ethnic cleansing of Palestine, a war against Iran and the destruction and genocide in South Lebanon. 130 years of Zionism have created the worst political monsters since the Third Reich. This was, of course, done in the name of liberating Jews.
The Jewish Apartheid state was set up in the same year, 1948, that the White Apartheid state was created in South Africa. At least that monster is already gone, though the way this was done did not lead to the liberation so many have worked for, and Blacks in South Africa are still living with many of the inequalities created by the White Apartheid regime.
Yet in Palestine, the Settler-colonial state of Israel seems stronger than ever, controlling the agenda, decision-making and the political direction of much of the global West, while it is involved in the most terrifying genocide of our lifetime. Despite the fact that this has gone on for almost three years, there seems to be no end in sight for the oppression, suffering, and destruction of Palestinian life in their own land, with every organization, institution, and even states that have partaken in the struggle against Israeli war crimes being crushed and punished by the combined might of the global West.
Surely, we are all involved? Surely, we are all suffering the loss of our rights for free speech, the right to protest, or the duty to uphold the law of the land and international law, under governments that are united in supporting crimes against humanity? That this is done in the name of helping Jews against antisemitism is one of the most persistent lies of our time. And Jews all over the world are uniting against it.
Last year, the Vienna Congress brought together a thousand activists to start the process of building a global Jewish opposition to Zionism, to Israel and its crimes, and to the states supporting these illegal atrocities – militarily, politically and financially. The foundation was laid, and we are now tasked with the next stage – building the movement, directing its objectives, listening and collaborating with the Palestine global movement and contributing towards turning the Jewish communities from servile centers of support for Israeli crimes to becoming part of the Anti-Zionist opposition to the Israeli genocidal entity.
Dublin was chosen for the second iteration of the Congress due to the specific role played by the Irish in opposition and defeating British settler-colonialism on the island of Ireland, at least in the South. Ireland was the first colony of the nascent British Empire, and we found it fit to discuss the future defeat of its last colony, the Zionist state in Palestine.
This is where this political malady had started, and this is where we should discuss the ending of the Palestine colony, started by the British Empire with its sordid gifting of Palestine to the Zionist movement in 1917, with the Balfour Declaration. Britain is the first empire that supported Zionism then, and has continued to do so without a break for 110 years – all British governments, of whatever political bent, have supported the crimes of Israel, and the current British government is proving there is nothing they will not do to continue such support – even the perversion of justice in Britain itself.
UK is alone in having arrested over 3,000 people, many of them frail and elderly, for the terrible crime of displaying a hand-written poster, judged as an act of terror, and justifying bringing terror charges against law-abiding citizens, by a regime displaying deep disregard for human rights, not just in Palestine but also in Britain. Dublin is an excellent historical location to remind the British regime that the struggle against injustice is sometimes successful. Indeed, in the long run, it is always successful.
The Dublin Congress has a very loaded agenda to discuss and to move from mere debate to political action. With contributions from leading voices in the struggle for Palestinian liberation and international justice, including Ilan Pappé, Ramzy Baroud, Francesca Albanese, Jérôme Lagarce, and Craig Mokhiber, the Congress seeks to move beyond analysis and towards practical strategies for confronting Zionism and supporting Palestinian freedom.
Most Western states are still supporting Israeli crimes. Most Jews in the West are still supporting Israel, and we need to turn this round. Most Jewish communities are still sending their sons and daughters to serve in a genocidal army.
Most synagogues in Britain are still holding Zionist events, holding prayers for Israel and the IDF. Most Jewish communities are still spreading Israeli Hasbara lies, silencing action for Palestine, and presenting themselves, as well as Israel, as the eternal victim, rather than admitting to the crimes of Zionism, aided and abetted by such communities. Such communities are still resistant to argument, evidence, and international law, not to mention morality.
As Anti-Zionist Jews, we are well placed to change all that – to play our part in the decolonization, de-Zionisation and liberation of Palestine from the Zionist oppression that Britain has imposed on its indigenous population. For two millennia, Jews have suffered various forms of oppression, including becoming the victims of one of the greatest genocides. This should drive all Jews to oppose genocide, and especially one perpetrated by Jews in the name of all Jews!
The debates in Dublin must concentrate on the liberation of Palestine from Zionism and its militarized genocide, indeed, on liberating the whole of West Asia from the monstrosity which Israel has become – the chaos engine of the West, involved in sowing death and destruction in six states over the last couple of years.
But there is another type of liberation we must achieve in Dublin – the liberation of the Jewish mind, now under occupation by Zionism, militarism, racism and Jewish supremacism. Zionism has not only occupied Palestine and other states in West Asia – it has occupied and destroyed Judaism itself, exchanging the deity and Jewish history with the militarised racism of Israeli settler-colonialism.
That is the first task of the Congress – let us liberate Judaism everywhere from the claws of genocidal Zionism. Let us fully join Palestinians in their struggle for justice, peace, and equality, for freedom in their own land. Let us do everything humanly possible to stop the genocide, to reverse its terrifying damage, to help rebuild Gaza and Palestine, and to bring to justice those responsible for the genocidal crimes.
Only thus will there be a future for humans in Palestine – to liberate Palestine by ending Zionism is to create an independent and just Judaism, free of antisemitism and Islamophobia. This has existed in many Arab and Muslim societies where Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together in a form of coexistence termed “Convivencia” by later historians.
Such societies were free of the deep racism s of Europe, now making a comeback. If it was possible in Al Andalus, North Africa, the Middle East, Iran, Turkiye and the Balkans, why is it not possible now? The removal of Zionism may open the gates to a new history of Convivencia, and not just in Palestine.
To find out more about the Congress, its program, and to register and partake, please check the Congress website https://jazic.org – if you are unable to partake, please help us by making a donation: https://jazic.or
– Haim Bresheeth-Žabner is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London, and the author of An Army Like No Other: How the IDF Made A Nation, Verso 2020. He contributed this article to the Palestine Chronicle.
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