Investigating the online media platform Palestine Deep Dive, of which Labour MP Grahame Morris is a director, I was confronted with a fantasy world. A world where the Jewish state was responsible for another Holocaust, for spreading coronavirus and even for “weaponising time”. A world where accusations of antisemitism could be a "smear campaign", or originate from the Israeli government.
To reduce Palestinian issues to the imagined crimes of Israel alone nullifies their relationship with the real world. A recent study showed that the vast majority of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza hold their own leaders responsible for their situation. But despite having so many “voices” and so much content, this “deep dive” of Palestinian issues shows interest in little other than Israel's perceived role.
How could this self-styled "bold new platform" be so out of touch?
Perceiving the world around you through a singular, warped lens is an ideology and this particular one is called “antizionism”. Just as myths demonising Jews are not rooted in reality, antizionism fights against a mythical, distorted version of the Jewish state.
Since the Holocaust and founding of Israel, the Jewish Question - what to do about the status of Jews - is being reintroduced as the more socially acceptable package of antizionism, by denying the links to its ideological predecessor.
The rolling back of Jewish liberation is not up for discussion at individual or state level, and it shames the left that some are framing this as legitimate debate.