UK’s Zionist Jewry Rejects British J Street Clone
Latest update: March 1st, 2013
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Yachad UK visit to Israel, Jan. 8, 2012
Photo Credit: Facebook
According to the photos it has posted, every Yachad trip to Israel includes only visits to “Hebron and East Jerusalem,” with the exception of its Pesach, 2011 trip. That trip was described as Yachad’s visit to “East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”
In the only pictures in which there is a country designation, the town of Hebron is described as “Hebron, Palestine.” That’s Chevron, to which the Jews have a deed recorded in the Book of Genesis.
Yachad UK has not posted a single picture of visits to any historic or important sites within Israel – Yachad’s trips are the inverse of the standard Israel trips of mainstream Jewish organizations, where few dare to venture beyond the 1967 Armistice Line. There is a single picture of a Yachad visit to an Israeli Jew’s grave. Whose grave is it? Baruch Goldstein’s.
It appears that, based upon its Facebook albums, Yachad believes the only important parts of Israel to see are those areas in which one of their guides will explain to students and other members how awful Israel is to the Arabs.
Of the dozens of photos Yachad posted, the only ones which reveal unequivocally pro-Israel support was one welcoming home Gilad Shalit, and two which criticize George Galloway for refusing to debate Israeli Oxford student Eylon Aslan-Levy at a debate last week. In the talkbacks to the Galloway post, however, Yachad posted that it retweets Galloway, but considers his specific refusal to debate with an Israeli unacceptable.
At least one ZF member has said he will call for a revote on whether to include Yachad in the Zionist Federation, but sources with contacts within the ZF say that its members will not deviate from the democratically made decision.
One long-time British pro-Israel activist, Clive Hyman, told The Jewish Press that “some people have apparently forgotten that ‘democratic’ does not mean everyone gets in.” It means, he said, “the enfranchised vote according to the procedure laid out in a governing document.”
The Movement for Reform Judaism disagreed with the decision to exclude Yachad. According to the MRJ, Yachad accurately “reflects the will of UK Jewry for a two state solution.”
UPDATE: Hannah Weisfeld, director of Yachad, wrote an op-ed published in The Daily Beast in which she is not only critical of Galloway’s refusal to debate an Israeli Brit at Oxford, but strongly criticizes his anti-Israel bigotry.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Lori Lowenthal Marcus is the US correspondent for The Jewish Press. She is a recovered lawyer who previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools.
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Yachad should go back to their carrot juice and sandals and leave ZF in peace.
Thanks for being one of the first press articles to point out the fact that despite claims to the contrary The ZF explicitly supports the two state solution.
British Jewry is to be applauded for recognizing this group for what they are — a false flag advocating that the land of Israel be Judenrein — because that will be the result of the compromises and unilateral give-aways they preach.
Less than a week ago the Oxford Union voted against BDS. Who would have expected such things in the land of Londinistan!
One can support a two state solution without retweeting the evil Galloway! What are they smoking?
We actually tweeted his Twitter account with a comment about his discrimination about Israelis, as he was arguing with other tweeters that it was right to refuse to talk to Israeli citizens. The full tweet:
"Interesting stream of tweets from @georgegalloway on why he discriminates against Israeli citizens. http://bit.ly/ZjCQTx"
We also linked to the raw video footage of him walking out and to Hannah Weisfeld's Daily Beast article condemning his action (which is linked in the article above), so it's somewhat misleading to say we "retweet" him.
The actual statement made on the Facebook page linked to in this article is "We tweeted George Galloway's Twitter feed today, so we are hardly boycotting him." By that we meant that we had linked to his feed above, and that we wrote to him:
"@georgegalloway @dan_currency, @Eylon_AL is a dual UK/Israeli citizen:http://bit.ly/13rWJsc Would you see him if he was your constituent?"
The point we were making was that Yachad opposes BDS and boycotts of Israeli individuals.
Before this comment was posted I had updated the article with a link to Weisfeld's Daily Beast article – which was not mentioned on the Yachad website, but I thought it presented an important point. The comment by Yachad in the talkbacks certainly made it sound as though it tweeted Galloway approvingly, as it was a defensive response to a criticism of Yachad being critical of Galloway. However, I subsequently went through all of the tweets on Weisfeld's, Galloway's and Yachad's feeds and removed the "favorably" adjective regarding Yachad's retweeting of Galloway. Ultimately, the best way to determine what kind of Zionism Yachad represents is by looking to see what it does and where it goes with respect to Israel. Yachad's Facebook photo albums provide that window.
Yachad you and J street deserve retribution for your revolting activities you are the acne of the face of the jewish people
On the Galloway point, to be fair Yachad has been strongly against Galloway, so I don't think it is fair to criticise him on that. They even produced quite a funny picture on the matter. I certainly don't agree with them on everything, but where they haven't supported Galloway, I think its important in the spirit of accuracy to point that out.
see above comment
To bad US Jewish/Zionist organizations didn't do the same to J Street. Or do you have any doubt that ANY organization involving Georgr Soros is anti-Zionist!
To bad US Jewish/Zionist organizations didn't do the same to J Street. Or do you have any doubt that ANY organization involving Georgr Soros is anti-Zionist!
The self hating Jew is everywhere! Their goal seems to be to destroy Israel. J Street, Yachad UK all cess pools of self hating Jews! No other explanation is possible of why these Jews do nothing but attack Israel/Jews!
thanks well said lets go and beat them up
This article lost all credibility for me when I read the infantile comments about the editor of Ha'aretz and Condoleeza Rice, and I am no fan of Ha'aretz as a rule.Sorry, Jewish Press, epic fail.