By Pablo Vasco MST-FIT Unidad – Argentina
On Thursday, June 18, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires approved a bill to adhere to a dangerous political definition promoted by world Zionism through the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a group of 35 countries led by the United States and Israel which Argentina unfortunately belongs to.
What was the vote tally? The bill had been presented by the
parliamentary groups of Macrism[1] and
the Frente de Todos[2]. It
was approved by all groups with 55 votes, except one vote against by Autodeterminación
y Libertad. Among the votes in favor were those of legislators Myriam Bregman,
Alejandrina Barry (PTS) and Gabriel Solano (PO), which we consider a
capitulation to Zionist demands.
How was the order imposed? The IHRA promotes a false and intentioned definition of anti-Semitism; the Argentine government completely gave in to that lobby and adopted it through Resolution 114/2020 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, which proposed that the Judiciary, Congress, executive powers and provincial legislatures also adopt it. The Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires now meekly complied with those Yankee-Zionist political orders.
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What does the bill say? Among other things, the following: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jewish people that can be expressed as hatred of the Jews. Physical and rhetorical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed against Jewish or non-Jewish people and/or their property, the institutions of Jewish communities and their places of worship.”
Why is this so dangerous? This definition, in speaking of Jewish institutions, opens the door to qualifying any declaration or action critical of the DAIA, the AMIA, the Hacoach Club[3] or even the Parliament or the State of Israel itself as anti-Semitic. And any such declaration or action could therefore be persecuted and sanctioned for being supposedly anti-Semitic. There is already a history of persecution of left-wing organizations for protesting at the Israeli embassy in our country. It is an absurd definition, which politically uses the legitimate rejection of anti-Semitism, a rejection that we share, to silence criticism of the oppression and crimes of Zionism and Israel against the Arab peoples in general and the Palestinians in particular. Yesterday´s Holocaust victims, the Jewish people, are being used to try to hide the fact that the State of Israel is today´s murderer of the Palestinian people.
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Why did they rush to approve this? Obviously, the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires has much more urgent social needs to respond to than this debate. But as the ministerial resolution says, “this commitment was reiterated and reaffirmed by the President at the 5th World Holocaust Forum, entitled ‘Remembering the Holocaust: fighting anti-Semitism’, which took place in Yad Vashem on January 23, 2020.” This is just so. On his first trip abroad as president – not coincidentally to Israel – Alberto Fernández promised right-wing Israeli President Netanyahu to promote this aberration.
What does the Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People think? “The manipulation is completed by means of a semantic displacement, presenting opinions that condemn the acts of the state that occupies and colonizes Palestine and its segregationist ideology as directed against groups and people who profess a specific religion … In this way, a rhetorical extortion is carried out that seeks to obstruct rational debate, excluding voices that articulate solidarity with the Palestinian people from the discussion.”
Why do Bregman, Solano and Barry´s votes constitute a capitulation? It is false, as they as they try to explain now, that they had to vote “for or against the Holocaust.” The text says what it says. In addition, point 20 of the national platform of the FIT-Unidad – the electoral front conformed by our MST and the PTS, PO and IS – proposes, as Trotskyism traditionally has: “Support for the heroic Palestinian people. Down with the Zionist occupation of Palestine.”
To make matters worse, this occurs after the so-called “deal of the century” presented by Trump and Israel to advance against Palestine. Two years ago, Israel changed its “fundamental law” to discriminate and take away the rights of Arab inhabitants and their language, encourage new occupations and impose the exclusive Israeli property over Jerusalem (which even the UN recognizes should be shared with Palestine). Furthermore, Netanyahu prepares to fulfill his electoral promise to annex occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank on July 1.
This is why the only correct policy is to condemn all the atrocities of the genocidal and colonial Israeli government and to continue proposing the destruction of that State. Instead, by caving in to pressure and approving this definition of Zionism, the door is opened to even more persecution for those of us who raise our voices in defense of the Palestinian people, now protected by the Legislature´s vote.
In this situation, the Buenos Aires “anti-Semitism” bill aids the Zionist colonial and racist offensive backed by US imperialism. At the same time, it is a setback for the historical and present struggle of the heroic Palestinian people. We appeal to the PTS and PO leaderships to rectify their position and reverse this capitulation.
[1] The legislative group of the parties which supported former right wing president Macri.
[2] The political front articulated around peronism that supports the current government of Alberto Fernandez.
[3] Institutions of the Jewish community in Argentina.
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