We have heard these requests to stop buying Jewish goods before.

I am sure you think there is a difference if you specify 'Israeli' rather than 'Jewish' so read what MLK had to say about that:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
"Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.
"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.
"The Negro people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.
"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfilment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.
This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.
"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism.
"The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!
"My friend, I do not accuse you of deliberate antisemitism. I know you feel, as I do, a deep love of truth and justice and a revulsion for racism, prejudice, and discrimination. But I know you have been misled--as others have been--into thinking you can be 'anti-Zionist' and yet remain true to these heartfelt principles that you and I share.
Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."

From M.L. King Jr., "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend," Saturday Review_XLVII (Aug. 1967), p. 76.
Reprinted in M.L. King Jr., "This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."


There is no ethnic cleansing in Israel - we are committed to a two state solution
Strange that the racsist who is asking everyone to boycott Israeli goods has, in all liklihood never organised a mass rally against China for their occupation of Tibet or for Chechnya, Kurdistan, Kashmir, Lebanon - all of whom are occupied - no - he is obsessed with the Jewish State who have tried to make peace many times only to be thwarted by Arafat and a leadership who does not want a future for his people - he just wants to kill Jews.

M&S said these protests have in no way affected their trade.

The Jewish community go to great efforts to buy and import Israeli goods and to give money to Israeli charities - the longer the filthy racists who advocate our destruction continue, the more we will support Israel and our people in every way we can.

I would never support anti-semitism but I do oppose Zionist ideology and racism. And I am not alone!

You could look at the many Jews who have for religious or political reasons opposed Zionism and/or Israel. From example, Brian Klug (senior research fellow in philosophy at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, and a founder member of the Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights) wrote recently:


No, anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism

As an idea, a Jewish homeland was always controversial. As a reality, Israel still is - and it is not anti-Jewish to say so

Brian Klug
Wednesday December 3, 2003
The Guardian

From the beginning, political Zionism was a controversial movement even among Jews. So strong was the opposition of German orthodox and reform rabbis to the Zionist idea in the name of Judaism that Theodor Herzl changed the venue of the First Zionist Congress in 1897 from Munich to Basle in Switzerland.
Twenty years later, when the British foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour (sponsor of the 1905 Aliens Act to restrict Jewish immigration to the UK), wanted the government to commit itself to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, his declaration was delayed - not by anti-semites but by leading figures in the British Jewish community. They included a Jewish member of the cabinet who called Balfour's pro-Zionism "anti-semitic in result".

continued at  http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,1098625,00.html

Or a collection of Rabbi's at  http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbis.htm or a list of organisation at  http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/Rabbis&Organizations.htm (including  http://www.nkusa.org/ or . Are these all anti-semite too? Or do you have to label them "self-hating Jews" instead?

I think it is actually anti-semitic to believe that all Jews are Zionists. It also ignores those many Christians and others who were central to the founding of Zionism and setting-up and supporting the State of Israel.

Just as in Ireland - not all Catholics are Republicans and not all Republicans are Catholics and the same for Protestants. In South Africa there were black people who supported the Apartheid regime and there were white people who opposed it. Supporting Ireland does not make you anti-protestant any more than opposing Apartheid makes you racist.

Zionism means the existance of a Jewish homeland and the right of Jews to live there - nothing more.

After centuries of murder and forced conversions and several genocides - is it so hard to understand why Jews want a homeland where the word 'Jew' is not a slander?

We were given a scrap of land in 1948 and took it; the land was barren, we made it fertile and were attacked on all sides.

Had the Arab nations accepted the partition by the UN, we would all be at peace now.

Most of UK Jewry wants an independant Palestinian State, but Israel also needs security.

To say we must exist in other countries, with no homeland and pray for goodwill has been tried before and our people have been tertiated.

We need a homeland and that you seek to destroy that is, whether you like being called it or not, Anti Semitic.

You can try and point to a million reasons why anti semitism/zionism are different; but strip them away and you are asking us to throw ourselves on the mercy of others again.

That will not and cannot be allowed to happen.

So stop your vile protests and your poisoned vernacular.

Mmm, trouble is that alleged Martin Luther King letter is a hoax, he never wrote it, it was made up for propaganda purposes, as even pro-Israel groups now acknowledge.

Truth is none of us can be sure what MLK actually thought about Israel/Palestine.

 http://www.jewish-history.com/mlk_zionism.html

The letter was printed in the New York Times Saturday Review August 1967 - your local library can order the archive for you.

The letter was again reprinted in MLK's 'Selected Writings'.

It is typical of small minded racists like yourself and David Irving and John Tyndall etc to re-write history to suit your arguments.

Martin Luther King Jr did write these letters - the full references are given on the above post - the letters are not fake, but sadly your comments do not surprise me.

So you believe some evil Jew wrote this letter - no you do not - you do not like what it says to you deny that it is real - pathetic

I went to the website above to consider the hoax theory:

Pleased to see that you directed me to the following comment by MLK:

During an appearance at Harvard University shortly before his death, a student stood up and asked King to address himself to the issue of Zionism. The question was clearly hostile. King responded, “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism.”

I notice that in the honest statement by 'Do not boycott Israel' they say that "We were given a scrap of land in 1948 and took it; the land was barren, we made it fertile and were attacked on all sides." Not only does this ignore the creation of the Yishuv right from the 1920s which which swallowed up the best cultivatable land and the Zionist Labour Federation and other institutions which excluded Arabs. Even as the State of Israel was being created the Zionist massacred 100s (such as at Deir Yassin)and the ethnic cleansing of 700,00 palestinians from their land and homes. That was the basis of you scrap of barren land.

One slogan the Zionists do shout on their protest (and they cannot deny it) is when we speak of the Palestinians the quote Golda Meir "They don't exist" and when we speak of Palestine they shout "It doesn't exist" (neither sound much like calls for a two-state solution to me). The problem with a Jewish nation is not because they happen to be Jewish but that it is built on the myth that it is 'A Land Without People For a People Without Land'.

Lies of right wing conspiracy theorists around the world, now coming to an Indymedia near you:

MLK's letters are fake... the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are real... the holocaust never happened... the earth is flat... the moon is made of green cheese...

... where only 400 israelis lost their lives - or sorry, that should read Palestinians.

Boycott everything israeli.

DO DO the research yourself on the MLK letter, taking mine or someones elses word is not a good idea in this arena - for instance it is a fake, has been conclusively demonstrated as such, repeatedly, but like much in israels history, still does the rounds ...

... and all to prove the same old point: critisism of isreal is support of adolf ...

Do we have to pay attention to such ludicrous thoughts anymore?

israel has stolen, raped, murdered, plundered, looted, poisoned, assasinated, decieved and ignored the pleas of the Palestinian people for too long.

Things are changing.

Don't be fooled by another four years of the fool in the house, nor of talk of an 'adolf revival' among the 'left'.

It is the natural state of humans to resist tyrany, when forced into an ever decreasing corner by the forces of reactionaries, zealots, fanatics and facists we must become our animal selves.

There is no second chance, no 7th cavalry, no heavenly intervention ...

The time is now.

Steal yourselves.

no gods no masters, no race no nation, no future in englands dreaming ...

To Jewish and Proud, sorry, I mean RACIST ZIONIST and Proud and Do not boycott Israel, i mean Do not boycott Israeli Aparthied, to boycott Israeli good is not to boycott Jewish Goods! It is not Anti-semitic/Anti-Jewish in anyway! If fact to Boycott Israeli goods is to boycott Zionist goods, as Israel is a ZIONIST STATE!

For Israel to be a jewish state it would have to of been GIVEN BY GOD, and it wasn't!
Israel was CREATED by the UN, thus making it a Zionist state!

SUPPORT THE PALESTINIANS!

BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS!

BOYCOTT MARKS AND SPENCER!

BOYCOTT THE RACIST, ZIONIST ISRAELI APARTHEID!

Regarding the Hoax Letter by Martin Luther King, supposedly published in the August '67 New York Times Saturday Review, CAMERA (a strongly pro-Zionist group) had this to say:

"However, because we do not ordinarily rely on anyone else’s research, we decided to double-check, by searching back issues of Saturday Review* (Rabbi Shneier’s book had referenced the “letter” as being published in the August 67 Saturday Review). Lo and behold, there is no such letter in any of the August issues, nor do the page and volume numbers cited conform to those actually used by that publication. CAMERA also checked with Boston University, where Dr. King’s work is archived. The archivists too were unable to locate any such letter. We can only conclude that no such letter was written by Dr. King."

The first mention of the letter is in a book by Rabbi Shneier called "Shared dreams", published in 1999. There is no mention of it or any quotes from it prior to that. Whilst CAMERA shy away from saying that Rabbi Shneier made it up, I don't.

Aside from all that, I don't see that we should take any notice of what MLK said or thought about a subject he obviously didn't know a lot about.

And the difference betwen boycotting Israeli goods and boycotting Jewish goods? Jewish goods from, say, New York or London, etc., are OK. Goods from Israel are not. See the difference? Or is it too complex for you?

"Had the Arab nations accepted the partition by the UN, we would all be at peace now."

The proposed UN partition of 1947 required of the Palestinians that they give up c. 200 Palestinian villages containing c. 1/3 of their population. The Israelis were asked to give up 12 settlements with c. 2% of their population in them. Is it surprising that the Palestinians refused? Especially when most of the decent land - the fertile coastal strip - was also given to Israel?

In the event, however, the Israeli acceptence of the UN decision was just words. In the six months between the UN decisiion and the final British withdrawal and Israeli declaration of independence, Israel moved into and attacked many areas in the proposed Palestinian state, often expelling the inhabitants who lived there (the beginning of the brutal ethnic cleansing that was to characterise the 1947-48 war.) By the time Britain finally left - and before any Arab countries had declared war on Israel - the Israelis had conquered c. 1/4 of the proposed Palestinian state. The Palestinians, who had been disarmed by the British after an unsuccesful revolt in 1936 - were unable to resist this and so called upon their Arab neighbours for help. In the war that followed, Israel increased its conquests in the Palestinian state to c. 1/2. The Arabs manged to hold onto the hills and the Gaza strip until, in 1967, Israel conquered them too.

"Most of UK Jewry wants an independant Palestinian State, but Israel also needs security."

Israel has never accepted the existence of Palestinians or a Palestinian state within the area of Mandate Palestine. The ideology of Zionism is fundamentally racist - how could a Jewish state (as opposed to a state which has a majority Jewish population - the difference is not trivial) be otherwise? Security is a mask used to hide and "justify" atrocities. Most of Israel's security problems are now of its own creation and could be solved if Israel was willing to accept that Palestinians are human beings with human rights. But they're not, and never have been, willing to accept this.

For UK Jewry to support this is for UK Jewry to follow blind patriotism - "My country, right or wrong" the small increase in anti-Semitism in Britain over the last 4 years may be, in part, due to the decision taken by the vast majority of UK Jewry to support Israel, right or wrong. This doesn't justify it, of course.

Steve3742, I have never read so much far-right twaddle in ages. Where do you invent this lies?

Not worthy of comment. Disgusting comment and innacurate.