We've recently seen anti-Semitism on the move in places where you might not at first have expected it: Amnesty International's Finnish director calling Israel a 'scum state'; the European Commissioner for Trade complaining about Jewish arrogance and sinister lobby power. Neither of them, as far as I can tell, has suffered any penalty for these outbursts. Now the Green Party is also getting in on the act: a commenter on its email list circulated a racist BNP article to the list; when a Jewish party member protested at this, the commenter accused him, and Israel more generally, of being Nazis. When the Jewish member complained to the relevant committee in the Party, the Committee decided that though circulating the BNP article was wrong and indeed a lapse of judgement, on the matter of calling Jews Nazis there was no case to answer, because the offending email was really just satire. (All just a joke, really - can't you take a joke?) Fuller details here.
Why is it that these bodies, which like to regard themselves as progressive and tout themselves as anti-racist, suffer from such a distressing deficit of awareness when it comes to discriminatory hostility towards Jews? Why do they so readily resort to the Livingstone manoeuvre, as the leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas has already done, declaring that charges of anti-Semitism are devices to protect Israel from criticism? She also thinks that if those who are hostile to Israel don't succeed through democratic channels, then it's perfectly legitimate for them to take (non-violent) direct action. What she means is that causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to organizations which legally trade with Israel is perfectly legitimate if you can't persuade people to share your political views. I wonder how widely the net of this excuse is cast – how many businesses and shops can be trashed under its protection? And I very much wonder if she grants this excuse to others who fail to achieve their political aims through democratic means.
I think we'll be hearing more about all this in the weeks to come: a Guardian diarist has already picked it up. Watch this space. (Eve Garrard)