Typical of the denial of the Jewish right to define Jew-hatred is this article appearing in The Middle East Eye:
How the IHRA’s anti-Semitism definition is a threat to British democracy
The IHRA definition is yet another tool in the arsenal of Israel’s far-right government and the UK Israel lobby to destroy any possibility of developing an independent approach to Israel-Palestine
The underlying claim is that when Jews want to define anti-Semitism, it is really nothing more than an attempt to undermine criticism of Israel.
And now, a similar kind of muzzling of Jewish opinion took place just the other day — this time affecting how Jews talk about their own holidays.
It started with a tweet about Hanukkah:
It was just an accurate description of the holiday of Hanukkah and of its implications.
But that was just too provocative for some.
Coveney questions the Peace Initiative itself (“U say u are working on a New Peace Initiative”) and finishes off claiming that this is just one more in a series of “unhelpful statements.”
But then Coveney thought better of what he wrote.
Here is the revised version Coveney tweeted after he toned it down a little:
But still: Jews describing Jewish holidays is provocative when they are tied to the history of the Jewish people and how they have fought for their lives — and their land.
Are Tweets like this provocative in and of themselves, or because they go against the ongoing flow of UN bias against Israel? Just yesterday, the UN passed 6 anti-Israel resolutions, including one UN resolution that refers to the Temple Mount only by the Arab name of Haram al-Sharif
Can’t have Jews going around pointing out that Hanukkah is predicated on the Jewish identity of the Temple Mount now, can we?
The world may be willing to wish the Jews a Happy Hanukkah, but they are only willing to go so far:
During Hanukkah, the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem is more blatant, but even holidays like Passover, Shavuot, Rosh HaShannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret remind us of Jewish Jerusalem — if for no other reason than the prayers that recall the sacrifices that were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The same goes for Tisha B’Av and other fast days that commemorate the destruction of the Temple.
Likewise, even in during the holiday of Purim, which did not even take place in Israel, the status of which day the Megillah is read is dictated on whether the city was a walled city when Joshua conquered the land — and the only city that fulfills that requirement today is Jerusalem.
So while the world has no problem remaining quiet while Palestinian Arab leaders deny the historical bond between Jews and Jerusalem, when Jews openly celebrate their holidays and their ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, we are the ones being provocative.
As usual.