Train drivers’ union publishes article calling Zionism ‘racism’

Britain’s trade union for train drivers has published an opinion piece by one of its members stating that Zionism, the Jewish movement for self-determination, “is racism”.  

The article, which is printed in the most recent edition of Aslef's monthly journal, is an extract from a speech delivered last month at the union’s annual assembly of delegates.

The piece condemns Britain’s trade union movement as historically “complicit” in its “support of Zionism” and describes Israel as a settler-colony practising apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Hussein Ezzedine, the secretary of Aslef's Edinburgh no.1 branch, who delivered the speech, said: “The narrative must change, and we should avoid the intentionally misleading narrative which is – at best – of an ‘insoluble and complex conflict’, with both sides responsible. 

“It isn’t. It is, actually, very simple. There is an occupier and an occupied…

“Let us be clear – Zionism is racism.”

Commenting on the article, Board of Deputies President, Marie van der Zyl, said: “Aslef's Jewish members will be very concerned to see the union publishing such a one-sided and offensive tirade against Zionism, totally ignoring the 4,000 year relationship of Jews to the land of Israel and their right to self-determination following genocide in Europe and persecution in the Middle East.

"It is also a disgracefully biased perspective of the Israel-Hamas conflict which fails to mention let alone condemn the terrorist group against whose rockets Israel was defending all its citizens.”

A Jewish member of Aslef, who did not want to be named, said he found the material “sickening”, adding: “I’ve never denied to anyone at work that I’m Jewish if the subject has come up, but I don’t shout it from the rooftops either; I don’t like that I now have to consider how I would respond if this caused the topic to come up in our mess room.”

A separate opinion article in the Aslef journal addresses “the sad fact” that there “is (a) loss of lives on both sides”. 

The article considers a two and one-state solution as potential paths forward for the region, concluding “a referendum would have to be called to let the people decide their future”.

A spokesperson for Aslef told the JC: “The article is a personal piece by Hussein Ezzedine on a page called ‘Platform’, where members express a personal opinion. 

“There is another piece on the facing page which calls for a two-state solution.”