Juxtaposition

There is currently a Juxtaposition occurring.

In a recent survey from Israel Democracy Institute’s monthly peace index, reported in the TOT, released amid reports of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas 78% of Israeli Jews said they would oppose any agreement that did not include the return of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whose remains have been held by Hamas since they were killed in the 2014 Gaza war.

While predictably the poll numbers are divided along ideological lines, this is an important recognition and perhaps, perhaps an indicator for the Israeli government to continue in efforts to reach an agreement that would end months of violence along the Gaza border and improve humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave. Such a position is supported by the majority of respondents from all political backgrounds: 82% on the right, 75% from the center and 66% on the left.

Then there is within the U.K. daily racism and antisemitism coming from one of the main political parties–Labour. At its National Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, the party belatedly approved an international definition of antisemitism, in an attempt to quell the long-running problem of the party’s failure to stamp out antisemitism and its leader’s, Jeremy Corbyn, own alleged anti-Semitic statements. While language was adopted and approved, Corbyn’s failed in his bid to permit “the description of Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist”.

Corbyn showed once more his true colors and was predictably castigated by Labour Friends of Israel and British political correspondent, ITV’s Robert Peston, who described the key phrase in Corbyn’s failed statement as “incendiary.”

What a Juxtaposition.

Israel and its citizens supporting indirect negotiations with a terror group in the hope for peace, while a Western political party, appalling, once again ignored the view clearly and repeatedly stated by its own Jewish community: that it should adopt the full definition without additions, omissions or caveats. Instead, its own leader has been roundly criticized over reports of rampant anti-Jewish prejudice, has made anti-Semitic statements and participated in anti-Semitic activities, and now can not even fully support the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.