A poster from a protest in London linking the Black Lives Matter movement to the situation facing the Palestinians. Photo: Apartheid Off Campus via Facebook.
A top British Jewish group slammed the UK branch of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization on Sunday after it tweeted a virulently anti-Israel message.
“As Israel moves forward with the annexation of the West Bank, and mainstream British politics is gagged of the right to critique Zionism, and Israel’s settler colonial pursuits, we loudly and clearly stand beside our Palestinian comrades. Free Palestine,” BLM UK’s official Twitter account stated.
As Israel moves forward with the annexation of the West Bank, and mainstream British politics is gagged of the right to critique Zionism, and Israel’s settler colonial pursuits, we loudly and clearly stand beside our Palestinian comrades.
FREE PALESTINE.
— #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) June 28, 2020
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) watchdog responded, “The Black Lives Matter movement should embrace solidarity from Jews.”
“There have been calls for violence against us from prominent BLM supporters with no official condemnation,” the CAA noted. “Now from the official UK BLM account, we hear the lie that fighting antisemitism has ‘gagged’ legitimate debate.”
“Zionism is the movement for the self-determination of Jews,” the group asserted. “The right to the ‘self-determination of peoples’ is universal and enshrined in Article 1 of the UN charter. So-called ‘anti-Zionism’ exclusively denies Jews that universal right and is therefore antisemitic.”
“BLM should aspire to be a movement against racism that unifies people and achieves lasting change, not a movement that spreads hatred and achieves lasting division,” they continued. “Educate yourselves. You cannot fight prejudice with prejudice.”