I was talking the other day to a young man who was patiently explaining to me that to be “left” is to be “anti-Israel”. There was no difference at all in his mind. And he insisted that his was a view shared by his entire generation. He may be right.
Watching crowds of thousands at live music events chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, Death to the IDF” is evidence that for a large number of young people, being anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian is a no-brainer. Perhaps for most of them, it is what defines left-wing politics today.
I do understand that sometimes there are era-defining events that shape and re-shape existing politics. In the 1930s, for example, it was fair to expect anyone claiming to be left-wing to stand in solidarity with Spain, as nearly the entire left did. And today I and others have argued that solidarity with Ukraine in its war of self-defence against an aggressive Russia deserves the solidarity of the entire left, and indeed that if one is not pro-Ukrainian, one does not deserve to be called left-wing.
Having said that, I do reject the idea that being “anti-Israel” equals being left-wing and I’d like to try to explain why.
When supporting the Spanish Republic, while acknowledging its flaws (and they were many), it was clear to everyone on the left that the Spanish Republicans were the right side to back in a war against the fascists led by Franco.
And while there may be things we don’t like about the current Ukrainian government (including its treatment of the trade union movement), to most of us it is clearly the more progressive, democratic side in a war against Putin’s pro-fascist state.
But when we look at Hamas, Hizbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in what sense can those organisations and regimes be considered progressive or democratic, especially when compared with Israel? Do women have more rights in Iran than in Israel? Are LGBTQ people treated equally and with more respect in Hamas-controlled Gaza than in Israel? Do workers have greater rights to join and form independent, democratic trade unions under Hizbollah than in Israel?
The only thing that all those movements seem to be doing — and this is why some parts of the Left consider them progressive — is to fight Israel. They take the slogan “Death, death to the IDF” and try to turn it into reality.
I think that for most people chanting violently anti-Israeli slogans, they are doing so because they are appalled by the behaviour of the Israeli military in Gaza. While very few people in Britain know a lot about Hamas (including its infamous Covenant from 1988), pretty much everyone is now an expert on how Israel has been fighting. And there is a consensus that the IDF’s behaviour in Gaza is unacceptable.
The left should not, however, be chanting antisemitic slogans. Instead they should be expressing their opposition to Hamas and its allies at the same time as denouncing the way Israel is conducting its war in Gaza. Not “Free, free Palestine!” or “From the river to the sea”. Instead, “No to Hamas! No to Netanyahu! Yes to a two-state solution!”
That slogan — not the ones shouted in Glastonbury — should define what we mean by being on the left in Britain today.
This article appears as my regular column in this week’s issue of Solidarity.