Melanie Phillips – Israel must get onto the front foot against its delegitimisers

Ray Cook
As I See It – Israel, Zionism and the Media
24 April '11

On Friday night I had the privilege of being at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem to listen to Melanie Phillips address a group of visiting Americans from Kehillath Jeshurun.

The American group come regularly from Manhattan led by Rabbi Lookstein. They are strong supporters of Israel.

Melanie Phillips had been invited to speak to them after dinner, a difficult task in a hall where the acoustics were poor and Ms Phillips had to speak without electronic aids as it was Shabbat.

Nevertheless, Phillips’ message was loud and clear.

She quickly gave the history of her experiences in the UK and her gradual move through various stages of pariahdom in the UK, mostly due to her stand on Israel and her belief that Israel is the true victim of the conflict although the received wisdom, the default position in the UK media and in Europe is that it is Israel who is the aggressor.

Politicians in the UK, Europe and even the US have for years treated the conflict as if it were a mere border dispute.

According to Phillips – and I have always been in complete agreement on this point – the dispute, which has now raged since the State of Israel was declared, is ALL about Arab rejectionism. A true peace partner would continue to negotiate, they would not declare their intent to destroy the State and, in the case of Hamas and Hizbollah in particular, to kill Jews as a religious imperative.

What lies at the heart of the conflict, therefore, is Islamic Jew-hatred and a virulent anti-Semitism.

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