Anti-zionist identity

ANYONE who has had any involvement with Palestinian solidarity groups will quickly tell you that one of the most shameful accusations that zionists make is that any Jew who questions Israel isn't really a Jew at all, the term "self-hater" more often than not being bandied about.

Marqusee isn't having this at all and, anchoring his politics in a non-doctrinaire but thoroughly left-wing internationalism, puts forward the argument that no zionist or rabbi has the right to decide what is or isn't Jewish.

He's keen to show that, despite zionism's attempts to treat Judaism as some monolithic bloc, it is, like any other belief system, an incredibly diverse and multifaceted entity that encompasses progressive if not completely revolutionary trends, such as the socialist Bund, alongside far-right and pro-zionist groups.

He also makes the point that the Chief Rabbi and the Board of Deputies of British Jews are by no means the democratic and representative concerns that they make themselves out to be, an important thing to remember the next time that you hear one of them trying to defend the indefensible.

Most of the book - and, dare I say it, perhaps too much - explores anti-zionism through the political journey of Marqusee's socialist grandfather.

As a lawyer, writer and politician, Eddie Morand was a passionate leftist, fervent anti-fascist and defender of civil rights for all. In later years, though, he became an uncritical admirer of zionist Israel, apparently unconcerned about the fate of Palestinians and the whole "Nakba" of ethnic cleansing.

Sadly, this unwillingness to criticise Israel was fairly common among the left, so much so that the author was first called a self-hater by his once-communist father.

As a writer, Marqusee doesn't apologise for such contradictions, but he does try to understand them and it's this that helps make the book all the more valuable.

He also has a nice sense of humour. When asked on an Islamic radio station if he is a self-hating Jew, he gives the classic response of admitting to self-hate but not on the basis that he is Jewish.

Concluding notes deal with the author's experiences of working in the British left and, more recently, in the Stop the War Coalition. It would have been good to have had more on this, particularly because Marqusee has been fairly open in his attacks on the SWP and on the direction that the anti-war movement has occasionally taken, but the material that we do get is both considered and to the point.

Writers such as the well-respected James Petras are justifiably taken to task for arguing that the occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with the influence of a "zioncon" interest group within US politics - a fundamentally dangerous and topsy-turvy approach to international relations made even worse by claiming that detractors from such a viewpoint, such as Chomsky and Finkelstein, are ethnically biased.

Perhaps more importantly, Marqusee draws a number of fascinating parallels between the experiences of Jews and Muslims in combating prejudice.

Debating questions of identity and engagement in a real and concrete fashion, it's a wonderful contrast to the sometimes fairly hollow and blase narratives of liberal multiculturalism.

Political writing as it ought to be.