After the seven-day pause that saw 110 Hamas hostages and 180 detained by Israel released, military operations have resumed in Gaza (although arguably they never stopped in the West Bank). (1) However, the ideological hostilties have never ceased and have done nothing if not amplified the propaganda value of Afrikan support.

At the start of this year following a diplomatic spat, the African Union stripped Israel of its observer status (that some states assert it should never have been given). Israel responded via the racist trope of unintelligent Afrikans by claiming that its continental detractors were “driven by hatred and controlled by Iran,” (2)

Although there is some opposition to Israel on the continent, it wasn’t always the case. Indeed, for some time after the independence era there was a relative amount of goodwill towards Israel (compared to other white nations). What changed, particularly by the early 1970s was the emergence of its entrenched relationship with the terrorist aparthied regime in South Africa. As Grand Master Teacher Baba John Henrik Clarke highlights:

“The Africans were slow to realise that the Israelis in Africa were no different from other whites who wanted to control the resources of this vast continent – by any means necessary.” (3)

This is a policy approach that essentially remains to this day. (4)

Nevertheless that racist trope is played out not just at the diplomatic but on the social level. American actress Julianna Margulies was forced after eleven days to offer a “sorry-not-sorry” apology for the pernicious contention that Afrikans are “brainwashed to hate Jews.” Unlike some of her contemporaries who made rather less offensive declarations – but in support of Palestine, she has yet to suffer any sanction. (5) It is generally the rule, rather than the exception that Anti-Afrikan sentiments go unpunished. Certainly, Judith Varnai Shorer, the then Israeli consul general in Atlanta who said in a leaked meeting in 2016 (which is currently trending on social media): “The major problem with Israel is with the young generation of the black community—Black Lives Matter starts there” has escaped any censure. (6)

The subtext of these positions, especially as it relates to Afrikans in the USA is one of their ingratitude, after supposed sterling Jewish support of the civil rights movement. In reality, this much vaunted support is largely mythical. Omowale Malcolm X exposed this in his legendary Message To The Grassroots. (7) Similarly, revered scholar Tony Martin, surveying the sweep of Black-Jewish relations in the twenieth century has noted:

“In each era the attitude to Black people has provided the credentials for their membership in the mainstream.” (8)

But where the outward attitude may have varied at different times, there has always been, through the likes of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a war waged against Black leadership at least since the time of Marcus Garvey. (9)

Yet the mythology continues to be pushed with the false equivalency by the likes of Margulies and comedy actress Amy Shumer, of Zionism with Judaism, ignoring the fact that Afrikans can tell the difference. (10)

For their part, the Palestinians have sought to link their struggle to Afrika. For example, in a communique to the 1969 Festival of Pan-African Culture in Algeria, Al-Fateh (the Palestinian National Liberation Movement) stated:

“What happened in Palestine can easily be understood by the people of Africa. It is the same story in Africa and Palestine. It started by the immigration of white Europeans to Africa, where they settled, enslaved the people, established their own regime, evacuated the national owners of the land. Exercised all kinds of deprivation and exploitation. Africa suffered foreign domination for a long time, and struggled for liberation, freedom and dignity.” (11)

They went on to claim: “Rhodes, Verwoerd and Ian Smith in Africa are the same as Herzl, Ben Gurion and Dayan in Palestine.” (12)

So it appears that Afrikan support in the diplomatic and social spheres is something that both sides continue to seek. Within the context of realpolitik, we should be able to leverage any support but whether we are constituted to do is another matter.

(1) BBC News (02/12/23) Truth and journalists are the first casualties of the war on Gaza. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67053011; BBC News (01/12/23) Who are the released hostages? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67477240; Faris Tanyos, Tucker Reals (30/11/23) Israel, Hamas reach deal to extend Gaza cease-fire for seventh day despite violence in Jerusalem, West Bank. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-hamas-extend-cease-fire-seventh-day-gaza/

(2) Al Jazeera and news agencies (20/02/23) African Union says Israel’s observer status suspended. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/20/african-union-says-israels-observer-status-suspended

(4) Raluca Besliu (10/04/18) Israel Tries to Expand Power in Africa. https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/israel-tries-expand-power-africa

(5) Melanie McFarland (03/12/23) From cable news to Hollywood, there’s double standard when it comes to speaking out about the war. https://www.salon.com/2023/12/03/israel-gaza-double-standard-celebrity-cable-news/

(6) Max Blumenthal (18/09/18) Censored documentary exposes Israel’s attack on Black Lives Matter. https://mronline.org/2018/09/18/censored-documentary-exposes-israels-attack-on-black-lives-matter/

(7) Omowale Malcolm X (10/11/63) Message to Grassroots. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/message-to-grassroots/#doc-tabs-full. Of note is his breakdown of the 1963 March On Washington and the machinations behind it in order to neutralise grassroots leadership.

(8) Tony Martin (1993) The Jewish Onslaught: Despatches from the Wellesly Battlefront. The Majority Press. p. 73

(9) Demetric Muhammad (07/11/23) J. Edgar Hoover and the ADL partnered to destroy Black leaders, organizations. https://new.finalcall.com/2023/11/07/fbi-adl-partnered-to-destroy-black-leaders-organizations/; Dennis Speed (26/04//96) The ADL-FBI racist conspiracy against America’ https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1996/eirv23n18-19960426/eirv23n18-19960426_026-the_adl_fbi_racist_conspiracy_ag.pdf

(10) Comedy Hype (19/10/23) Amy Schumer Calls Out Black People For ‘Not Supporting’ Israel, People Fire Back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du_0OqT-cFY; Marci Janas (1991) Kwame Ture’s Talks On Politics and Zionism Engender Discourse and Disagreement. https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/oampast/oam_sum96/oamsum96_ture.html. Kwame Ture stataes: “I will never say anything against Judaism . . . I’m proud that Africa gave birth to Judaism”–and anti-Zionism, to which he readily aligns himself–“Zionism is about land.”

(11) Editors, The Black Agenda Review (29/11/23) MESSAGE: The Palestine National Liberation Movement AL-FATEH to Africa. https://blackagendareport.org/news/1767/33/MESSAGE-The-Palestine-National-Liberation-Movement-AL-FATEH-to-Africa

(12) Ibid.

So tonight we ask the question:

Israel/Palestine: What’s it got to do with us? Part 2

1) Can Israel reconcile its past support for apartheid with its current overtures to Africa?

2) Are Afrikans in the USA ungrateful after getting Civil Rights support?

3) Are Judaism and Zionism synonymous?

4) Are both sides courting Afrikan support?

5) Should we explore how supporting either side benefits us?

Our Special Guests:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

Eld. Cecil Guztmore: is an internationally renowned veteran scholar and activist who has been active in the Pan-Afrikan community for over fifty years. He migrated to the UK in 1961 later spending a decade back in Jamaica. Has been student, factory worker, clerical worker, community worker, local government and freelance training and management consultant and university lecturer in London and at UWI, Mona, Jamaica. His activism combines Black and left class positions.

Eld. Cecil’s writings on history, philosophy of science and political science and cultural studies have appeared in The Black Liberator, Marxism Today, Race and Class and Interventions; as well as various book chapters, newspaper columns and reviews in The Guardian (UK) The Jamaica Gleaner, The Morning Star and other newspapers. His research interests including the visual history of Africa and her Diasporas has led to the production of a number of photo-history exhibitions dealing with Caribbean Women and Marcus Mosiah Garvey amongst others. Eld. Cecil has also worked on some of the films of Menelik Shabazz.

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